I have spent the last month engulfed with Ted Orland & David Bayles “Art & Fear”. This book goes over a broad spectrum of topics and issues relating to an ordinary person’s pursuit of creating meaningful art. As I plugged through the book and read the pages over and over I would take out my pen to highlight, underline and circle certain phrases that spoke to me. I don’t think I have underlined so many parts of a text since studying for an exam in college.
I believe the reason this book spoke to me is due to the fact that my pursuit of photography has been based entirely on my own initiative, no formal schooling, workshops or “creative” surroundings. A fairly isolated pursuit. Through this I have had to sort out my own doubts, fears, skills, and direction. Well this book felt like a conversation with another artist where all I could say throughout the dialogue is “me too, totally, I understand”. It helped me realize I am not the only person with these thoughts and roadblocks. So to say this book was only thought provoking is an understatement.
My general summary of the book is this: We can ALL learn the techniques needed to capture a well lit, framed & balanced photograph but only the hard working perfectionist who uses these techniques to capture his unique voice and passion can turn it into art.
Now for some quotes that stuck out me.
“In art fears about yourself prevent you from doing your best work, while fears about your reception by others prevent you from doing your own work”.
“Many people think that talent is what comes easily. Wrong. By definition, whatever you have is exactly what you need to produce your best work. There is no bigger waste of energy than worrying about how much talent you have and probably no worry more common”.
“You know better than anyone else the accidental nature of much that appears in your art, not to mention all those elements you know originated with others. From there it’s only a short hop to feeling like your are just going through the motions of being an artist. Its easy to imagine that real artists know what they are doing, and that they – unlike you – are entitled to feel good about themselves and their art. Fear the you are not a real artist causes you to undervalue your work”.
“Whatever other artists have is something needed to only do their work – it wouldn’t help you in your work even if you had it. Their magic is theirs. You don’t lack it. You don’t need it. It has nothing to do with you. Period”.
“Art is often made in abandonment, emerging from those unbidden moments of selfless rapport with the materials and ideas we care about”.
“What is sometimes needed is simply an insulating period, a gap of pure time between the making of your art, and the time when you share it with outsiders”.
“If, indeed, for any given time only a certain sort of work resonates with your life, then that is the work you need to be doing in that moment. If you try to do some other work, you will miss your moment”.
“The hardest part of art making is living you life in such a way that your work gets done over and over – and that means finding a host of practices that are just plain useful”.
“Fear that your are not getting your fair share of recognition leads to anger and bitterness. Fear that you are not as good as a fellow artist leads to depression”.
“Art that falls short often does so not because the artist failed to meet the challenge, but because there was never a challenge in the first place”.
“Simply put, art that deals with ideas is more interesting than art the deals with techniques”.
“Making art inevitably engages the large themes and basic techniques that artists have used for centuries. Finding your own work is a process of distilling from each those traces that ring true to your own spirit”.
“The only work really worth doing – the only work you can do convincingly – is the work that focuses on the things you care about. To not focus on those issues is to deny the constants in your life”.
