"I'm Not an Art Person."
No, you are.
“Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.”
– Pablo Picasso
Since elementary school I’ve felt art class mentioned, in total, an amount of artists that I could numerate with my fingers alone. 1
Yet, of the select few artists I recall being taught about in school almost all of them are white men.
Donatello, Raphael, da Vinci, Michelangelo, (all of the Ninja Turtles) Monet, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Klimt—with the almost only exceptions to this rule being O’Keefe and Basquiat.
The tragedy here is twofold, 1. that young, potential artists are not exposed to the diverse perspectives of a wide range of people and, therefore, subjected to a lopsided view of not only the world but art history itself, and 2. these students may not consider art as their ‘thing’ simply because they don’t particularly enjoy viewing or replicating the extremely narrow amount of pieces they’ve been shown.
And, for a time, I was that student: art was never really… my ‘thing.’
But after discovering the works of Freud, Franz Marc, Bacon and others, I found that art was my ‘thing.’
I understood that art is far from rigid, despite what art class implied it to be.
I now know that art is for everyone; everyone is an art person.
Saying you aren’t an art person is like saying you aren’t a fan of water: art is water; water is life; art is life.
If you don’t enjoy water: you don’t enjoy life; likewise, if you don’t enjoy art: you don’t enjoy life.
That being said, I’ve selected many artworks I’ve discovered on various subreddits, by mostly non-professional painters, and hope if art isn’t your ‘thing’ then it will become so by your breaking out of the box—which so many people are in—of only the most famous—yet, usually most boring—painters, sculptors, etc.2
I love the hazed aesthetic accomplished here.
Reminds me of Edward Hopper yet minus the people.
I can sort of make-out jumping figures here.
This is perhaps one of the ugliest paintings I’ve ever seen but, as the other revealed in the comments of their post, it was intentional.
I love the very subtle moodiness here paired up with insane realism—it combines to create a very unsettling landscape for me.
I love the ruggedness here: where the brush almost appears as more a pencil.
Thought this was fun—akin to Matisse.
It speaks for itself.
It’s interesting how everyone seems to be focused on something beyond the viewer.
Every stroke here is performed with great purpose.
If you look closely, you can see a drawing reminiscent of a face in the background.
This is so funny yet so disturbing…
I admit this is a bit of an exaggeration but you get the point.
And this expands outside of visual art: if you’re only reading Steinbeck and Bradbury then you might not find writing as a whole very appealing if you aren’t in love with their books.
I used to watch them examine and analyze art in TV shows and movies and it always made it seem like something so academic. Like if I couldn't break it down and identify the fundamental pieces then I was somehow doing it wrong, and so maybe art wasn't for someone like me. It wasn't until I went on a trip to Italy and toured the various museums that it finally started to resonate for me that I don't have to know all the details to appreciate what I'm seeing. Those that can analyze art have a talent and skill that I don't have...but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy looking at the same pieces and finding my own meaning and joy.
Art is life! Water is life!