Doodle of the Day - At The Laundromat

At the laundromat I meet weird people. Yesterday I went to do my laundry, and some dude comes up and starts blathering about politicians and corruption and garbage in the streets and how the world is coming to an end, and how he loves white people. 

Another dude near me smelled like old shoes and stale beer as he stood in the corner hiding behind the vending machine. 

And a guy across the way, well, that is where the Doodle of the Day comes into play...

(click on image for larger view)

Happy Friday!

Thank you for reading about the paintings, sculptures, drawings, works in progress, reviews, Doodle of the Day, and other art by Los Angeles artist Lucas Aardvark Novak :) To see older blog posts and other doodles, click HERE.

Top 5 Ways To Be A Better Artist

I don't typically create lists of stuff, though maybe it's something I should do more often, like for going to the grocery store or getting errands done, rather than wandering around aimlessly with an annoying thought in my skull that I'm forgetting something, like having a rock in my shoe. When it comes to artistic creation, sometimes lists are good - they can serve as reminders, or directionals, as you meander through the unexplored wilderness.

 
The Revenant, 37" x 48", oil on canvas, 2012.

So, here is a list I made of the top 5 ways on how to be a better artist. It's by no means an effort to preach to the world. I ain't standing on any platform, and I ain't sayin it's true for everyone. I'm simply setting a series of markers for myself in this labyrinth... 
 
Number 1: Be prolific. An artist must always keep working. The idea is similar to an athlete going to the gym or taking hundreds of swings in the batting cage. It is indeed okay to take some time off (and probably required), but when the season is in session, an artist must be 100% dedicated and all in. Slumps do happen, and at times it feels that art is pointless or your efforts are futile, but it's not an excuse to stop working. Ask yourself, "How bad do I want it?" The answer should be simple. An artist must continue to work through hard times.

 The Revenant, (detail):
 

Number 2:. Craftsmanship matters. Some conceptual artists have almost entirely eliminated the craft from their work, even attempted to distinguish the "high" artist from the "lowly" craftsman. But I believe good art, even conceptual art, still requires a certain high level of craftsmanship. An artist must pay attention to every detail in his work. This does not mean that every work of art needs to be realistic or appear pristine, but there can be no mistakes in the final piece. Regarding painting, I think good craftsmanship requires an advanced ability to draw, even if the artist is creating work that is completely abstract or expressionistic. Drawing practice is basically the training of hand-eye coordination to create exactly what you want, rather than hoping something interesting develops haphazardly, even if the finished style appears random, dirty or gestural.

The Revenant, (detail):
 

Number 3: Study all subjects, not just art. In the early 20th century, United States Supreme Court Justice, Felix Frankfurter, was asked by a young man how to become a great lawyer.  He advised the young man not to limit his studies to the law, but to embrace the study of all fields, including history, art, literature, science, sports, other cultures, the economy, and the environment. I believe Justice Frankfurter’s wisdom applies to those who wish to become great artists. Art represents culture, and these other fields of study embody who we are on this planet.

Globalization continues to develop and refine a global culture, thus artists should think globally. The timeless pieces of the past are those which appeal to populations everywhere. Artistic creation is an ongoing practice and lifelong study, and this study encompasses all fields which make up the global population.

The Revenant, (detail): 

Number 4: Continue to develop your taste in art. By taste, I am referring to the ability to make comparative judgments of art. The more a person develops his taste, the more objective he becomes in his analysis. Often times a person will disregard certain types of art, declaring, "I know what I like, and it's not that." Such a mindset gives the person an excuse to remain close-minded, essentially reaching a plateau in his appreciation of artistic experiences. While it is obviously acceptable to dislike certain works, an artist should always keep an open mind and continue to refine and develop his taste in art by studying other artists, attending exhibitions and museums, and expanding his life in general by studying all fields, as discussed in Number 3 above. Just try not to be snobbish or pretentious about it.

Number 5: Stick with your own voice. This one probably sounds cliche, but it is true and easy to forget. It is easy for an artist to be influenced by the work of famous artists who are successful monetarily. But the attempt to imitate others usually results in banal and stifled work. The challenge for any artist is to bring something game-changing and new to the table. This can only be done by sticking with the artist’s own voice, and standing by his work, even when others criticize it. 

An artist must continue to develop his own voice, just like continuing to develop his own taste and continuing to study other fields. The more the artist develops his taste, the less likely he will be to try to imitate others, and the more likely he will be to venture into unexplored territory. On the flip side, simply creating work that people expect, or that appeals to the artist’s past collectors, his critics, or people he knows, will certainly result in stagnant, repetitive art. No matter what an artist creates, there will always be people who criticize it. An artist must simply remember to stay true to himself.

Thank you for reading about the paintings, sculptures, drawings, works in progress, reviews, Doodle of the Day, and other art by Los Angeles artist Lucas Aardvark Novak :) To see older blog posts and other doodles, click HERE.



 

New Work, the Word "Artist", and the Jack White Inspiration

Abstract 04-12, 27" x 33", oil and tape on linen, 2012.

For years I have struggled to comprehend exactly what an artist is. Anything can be considered "art", from scrawling the word "R. Mutt" on a urinal, to someone's roadkill on the highway. You can videotape yourself walking around and around in a circle wearing nothing but baseball pants and a feather cap and suddenly be the next great performance artist. Picasso was an artist. Beyonce is an artist. Milli Vanilli won the "Best New Artist" Grammy Award even though they were singers who apparently lip synched lyrics written by other people. The employees of Subway are called sandwich artists.

Last week I happened to be struggling with the word artist again, commenting to my brother that people so freely toss that word around like it's nothing. The overuse of the word threatens to strip it of all meaning.

The next day, however, I was in Vancouver, Canada, and coincidentally came across an article about Jack White and his new album, Blunderbuss. Written by Mike Usinger for the Vancouver weekly newspaper, The Georgia Straight, the article, and particularly White's quotes, hit home - an inspirational perspective to remember...

White says: "I get bored with the idea of being complacent. I feel a responsibility - not really a guilt, but responsibility - to the word artist. That's a heavy, heavy word to say out loud, to even think of yourself as an artist. A lot of people throw that word around. If someone who's 80 years old comes up in an airport and says, 'What do you do for a living?', if I have the gall to say artist, instead of musician or producer or whatever, I'm really going to be responsible to that word - it's not an excuse to not work."

He adds: "So I push myself. I gave myself over to it a long time ago - gave myself over to not having a normal life or a normal experience, to not coming home and sitting on the couch and watching TV at night. I don't get to have that. That was the sacrifice. But the good things that have come from that, the experiences and the things that have been created that didn't exist before, I owe a lot of respect to."

Thank you for reading about the paintings, sculptures, drawings, works in progress, reviews, Doodle of the Day, and other art by Los Angeles artist Lucas Aardvark Novak :) To see older blog posts and other doodles, click HERE.

How to Commission A Painting

The above painting was a commission recently completed for a private collector. Creating a commission involves a fair amount of pre-production. If the person has an idea for a subject, I will use that subject and create sketches of possible compositions for a painting, such as the image below. The composition is influenced by what mood and emotions the painting should convey, as well as the anticipated size and dimensions.


Once the sketches are complete and a composition is conceived, I construct and prime the canvas to begin painting. As you can see from the above images, the sketch is just a skeleton (or blueprint) of the final painting, since my paintings usually incorporate a decent amount of abstraction.

In the example above, the collector approached me and wanted an old west landscape, 3 feet wide by 2 feet tall. That can be a broad topic, but during the early stages, he described the mood he wanted by referring to the film Saving Private Ryan - everything is on the line, a forced moment of clarity during an obscure gunfight. In sketching out the idea, I decided to play up the obscurity - the gunfight is either ongoing or has come to an end; the guy leaning on the barrel could be alive or dead; perhaps he is hallucinating; or perhaps you are the one who was shot.

Thank you for following the paintings, creations, sculpture, drawings, works in progress, Doodle of the Day, and other art by Los Angeles artist Lucas Aardvark Novak :) If you would like to explore the possibility of commissioning your own painting, feel free to contact me. Prices are determined by the square foot. To see older blog posts click HERE.

Doodle of the Day - Panda's Express Views on Pollution

I recently ordered lunch at Panda Express, that chain Chinese-food restaurant where customers should never brag about visiting. The employee asked me if I wanted it "for here" or "to go". I said, "For here," and she placed my food in the standard styrofoam container. I discovered that the only difference between "for here" and "to go" meant whether she would place the styrofoam container in a bag. After paying and receiving my styrofoam container of food, I walked to the utensil station where I noticed the napkin dispenser, as depicted above.

It puzzled me that Panda Express urged customers to conserve napkins, saying "save the environment, one napkin at a time", while at the same time providing a bulky, nondegradable styrofoam container to each and every customer on a daily basis, regardless of whether customers eat in or dine out:


It was fairly easy, if not crystal clear, to see through Panda Express's "pro-green" facade. Apparently, using less of the recycled napkins (so that Panda Express may minimize its costs), allows us to be unconcerned about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, the vortex of floating plastics and other trash in the Pacific Ocean bigger than the size of Texas, and growing:


In any regard, the experience inspired this Doodle of the Day (click on it for larger view):


Thank you for following the Doodle of the Day and the paintings, sculpture, drawings, works in progress, reviews, and other art by Los Angeles artist Lucas Aardvark :) To see older blog posts and other doodles, click HERE.

Reasons Why Art Need Not Be Controversial In Order To Be Good

Always a topic of debate among artists is what makes good art. Recently, I have come across several opinions of artists and critics who share the theory that art must be controversial in order to be good. These people often refer to artists such as Andy Warhol in proving their point.

Recently, the finance blogger at Reuters, Felix Salmon, relied on this premise in his article: The Commodification of Gerhard Richter. Gerhard Richter is a world famous German artist (not to be confused with Daniel Richter) who has been painting since the 1950s, thriving in a wide variety of styles and subjects. Salmon's article discusses the market demands for Gerhard Richter's art and how his paintings have become commodities that now sell for millions of dollars each. But it seems the main argument of his article is that, despite its monetary value, Richter's art only holds mediocre artistic value because it is not controversial.

While Salmon's commodification analysis is sound, I disagree with his premise that good art must stir up controversy.

In making his analysis, he compares Richter to Picasso and Warhol, concluding Richter will never be in their league because Richter's work is non-controversial. Granted, Richter has painted many sentimental portraits and landscapes. Salmon makes a valid point that all of Richter's most expensive paintings could be considered "wall pleasers" (such as his colorful squeegee paintings or soothing candles), but that characteristic also applies to the work of Warhol, Van Gogh, Klimt, and Monet, to name a few. The market is a different beast from artistic merit. In determining whether Richter is as "important" an artist as Warhol, we need not review which of Richter's paintings sell for the most money.

Money aside, as it's Salmon's premise that good art must be controversial, he fails to account for Richter's portraits of the murdered nurses, the bombers, the German cityscapes after the war, and the fact that Richter never pigeonholed himself into one style. Richter also continued to stand by painting when most other artists abandoned it and declared it to be dead c.1968, as conceptualism took over. From this perspective, Richter's art can be considered controversial. Nevertheless, I don't think his level of controversy is what makes his art good. In Richter's abstract paintings, for example, he mastered the complex subtleties in layers of paint, proving that painting is intellective and more than just optical enjoyment.

Anyone today can stir controversy and subsequently label it "art". Good art is more than mere controversy.

So then what makes good art? I wish there was a concrete answer. Then I could employ it into my own creations. But if I am to express an opinion, I would say that art is measured by its level of conflict.

The difference between controversy and conflict is the difference between the "what" and the "how". A person who is not an artist will look at a work of art and ask "what is it?" Salmon does this and concludes that Richter's paintings are just colorful abstractions. Or sentimental images of candles. But an artist looks at a work of art and asks "how did he do it?" Artists intuit how the person made decisions, the thought process, why he chose the subject matter, the physical process, the layers, the illusions, the expression, the relationships, the contrasts, etc. All of this is related to conflict. It's the originality of the artist's decisions, process, and application to resolve the conflict that makes art good.

Cognitive Value

Cognitosis, 27" x 36", oil on linen, 2012.