Tuesday, March 15, 2011

In one hand I have Order, in the other hand...

One of my favorite blog-writing artists, Sam Nielson, is going to write a series of blogs relating how the concept of order and chaos applies to design in art.  His idea is that art which strikes a balance between having structure and a looseness of form, is the kind of craft that people take a liking to most readily.  This is something that I think we might agree with, as even though discordant trash may fit the definition of art, it doesn't mean that it's art that will appeal to a significant number of people.  I suppose that too many people question a work with "Is it art?" when really they should admit that it's art, but perhaps not very interesting art.  
Aimee Mann of the band 'Til Tuesday wrote that to work without a set of rules is actually very limiting, that you have to adhere to some sort of design sense in your art if you are to produce something worthwhile. But then we have the artist Jackson Pollack apparently splattering paint randomly on a canvas, and we have the Surrealists practicing "automatic" drawing in which they insist that no conscious thought plays a part in their work... and from that they produce art which many people connect with.  So, subjectivity rules in art, of course.  I think that there is a question of whether randomness actually exists, that maybe it's just a complexity from which we are unable to discern the recognizable patterns.  Art and science merge on this topic certainly, and it will be fun to read what Sam has to say!  

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