Ideologies

Featured image: Not All Who Wander

An artist's work should have embedded within it the way that they think and feel. That is hard – and if the work is truly the work of one individual artist, it spreads out in the open exactly who the artist is and how they think.

The materials of the artists are used as visual words and sentences. What artists create and the materials they use should always be united distinctly as a combination of the creator the artist. That is a very difficult task. If the viewer can see and feel an artist in the work, then the work is authentic art. The viewer doesn’t have to like what they see. They just have to be able to read visually what the artist is trying to say.

When I was at the university, I took some literature classes. I loved them. I would read the materials required and go to the required lectures. The works of literature were unique, authentic, original works of art. I did not have to agree with what was being said about the work. I didn’t have to agree with the professor and their interpretation of the work. For the most part I was allowed to think for myself. In fact, most often I was allowed to think for myself.

This process has changed not only for the visual arts, but also in literature. Now it seems they all emphasize a specific ideology. My work is no different. It emphasizes my values. I emphasize individual uniqueness, individual freedom, originality and authenticity. These values can be placed anywhere even in ideologies I don’t agree with. The problem is that when this happens, I must ask, "Is there really individual freedom, originality, authenticity and uniqueness?" This is always the question that needs to be asked.