Cheeky

As an artist, I feel that “good” art is art that elicits some sort of response. The worst response I could get for a piece of art work is no response at all. If someone loves it or hates it, then at least  the work has been noticed and felt on some level. 

The interesting thing about being an artist publicly showing work, is I get to hear what people are saying about my art (the good and the bad). It can at times be great instant marketing feedback and at other times an interesting look at our culture. 

I love this painting because it's fun and slightly provocative. To me this is a very girlie piece of art, and I love it for that reason.  I have had it, or a limited edition giclee of it, up at a lot of shows because it gets people to stop and notice my booth or wall space.  But as with any good piece of art - the opinions on this one vary drastically depending on who is viewing it. 

There is one thing, I've heard from multiple little girls that I don't understand.  More often than not, when a young girl passes this painting she will point it out as  "disgusting." Which makes me wonder, what are we collectively as a society telling our kids?  There are areas of the world where this response would not be the initial thought coming out of the mouth of babes. 

On the flip side, the funniest thing that I hear a lot is from mothers of teenage daughters, insisting that this painting is a picture of their daughter. This is interesting to me.  First, to discover that women pay this much attention to their daughters’ bodies and are proud of their fit nature. And second, because I think it’s sweet in a way that moms feel their daughters are flirty and sexy all at the same time. 

So what do you think? Does a piece of “good” art generate some type of response, even if it’s negative? Or do you only think of art that you like as “good?”

For another blog about reactions to art see Funny Things I Hear At My Art Shows

Rediscovering A Passion

Growing up, I was  a classically trained dancer. I stopped dancing when I decided that career wise it had very little up side - given the short career lifespan. But I've always continued to dance, just in my home, or on the dance floor.  A few weekends ago a girlfriend invited me to an ecstatic dance workshop.  I had never been, so I thought I'd give it a shot. Well, I really didn't like the slow, can't really dance tempo - so I started doing ballet warmups.  It felt sooooooo nice.  And this weekend, I put in the New York City Ballet's workout - which is a basic dance warmup.  And that too felt sooooooo nice.  And so right.  My body just flowed and afterwards I felt amazingly good.  

I think it's great to somehow let go of a passion, but rediscover it again.  At just the right time. 

 Anyone else had that happen?

For another blog on a similar topic see Rediscovering Creative Voice