Process is Art, Part II
filed in Design: Graphic Design, Drawing & Fine Art, Nonsensical Ramblings on Apr.27, 2007
So to continue in my random thinking of the previous post, I pose this question to myself.
If process is art then what exactly is hanging in Art Museums?
For we cannot physically frame the blue feelings Picasso felt, or the rare moments of sanity Van Gogh may have experienced while painting in the fields, or the painful light-headedness as Michelangelo painted and admired his ceiling.
We are admiring, in an art museum, works of art. Not the art itself. Surely we’ve all heard the term “work of art.” But have we ever really dissected what it meant? For art is the process, the method… not the result. It is a personal thing. Art is the private relationship between the artist and the work, not the result. Unless you are the artist, or viewing the work as it is being created, you are never actually looking at art.
So how does this apply to design? For me, this idea began to hit home when recently I lost several hours of design work when my computer crashed and I had neglected to save. As I painfully relaunched Photoshop, muttering under my breath that painful mantra “Jesus saves. So should you! (CTRL+S)” I began to think over my design process. I realized that, not only will I be able to recreate more quickly the work which I had lost, but the end result – the WORK – will most certainly be better because it will be more thought out the second time around.
The recreation of my lost work was the art. The final design was my work of art.
Aside: Man, I really need to spend more time wording these posts better. The inner ramblings of my brain is a scary, mixed-up place sometimes.
April 27th, 2007 on 11:09 am
I think this post was worded well. As one who is not creative and doesn’t have a good appreciation for art I like what I’ve learned here today – that the process is the art and the final product is the result of that artistic process. Could it be that that is what’s so fascinating about a good painting, etc? That the one viewing it is not just admiring the beauty of the product but attempting to get in or behind or under the actual product in an effort at imagining the process? This will definitely help me in my appreciation of all things art.
April 29th, 2007 on 11:56 am
I think this post conveyed your point well. In our profession, it is the process that we “crave”, for lack of a better term. Especially since the end product is something we create for someone else. One of my college art teachers always emphasized how in order to be a successful designer, one must enjoy the process and the challenge of nurturing your concept and developing the perfect design solution. In essence, what we do is create throw-away art, so really the process is all we have.
I gave up on trying to eloquently translate the inner ramblings of my mind, and it’s been quite liberating for me. 🙂
May 1st, 2007 on 11:01 am
Wow. I never thought about that. What did that girl in Tennessee say those sixteen or so years ago…”Kenny, you think to much!”
She was wrong. I liked it. If it’s a curse..you got it from your father.
CTRL S
May 2nd, 2007 on 4:47 am
…communicate ramblings and thoughts art with meaning but actually pictures and thoughts…
Apple S
May 2nd, 2007 on 2:31 pm
Have you ever seen the Stephen Sondheim musical Sunday in the Park with George? It is all about process of making ‘art works’.