How to be an artist when you’re not cuckoo for cocoa puffs.
The way I look at art changed so often I lost track. My father is an artist as long as I can remember. Because of my father I wanted to be an artist too. So after high school I applied for two art schools, got admitted, choose one of the schools and started my journey.
The first art school I went to was a classical school where they teach fine arts, graphic design, illustration and drama. The choice wasn't hard for me, I went for fine arts. But I got stuck very soon. I was struggling with how to find a theme to work with and a style and a medium… While other students had a style and a medium they didn't seem to have the same struggles as me. I didn't know what I was doing wrong. The teachers kept telling me I had to find a theme, something existential, and a style because I was all over the place experimenting with almost everything! My work didn't have depth, it wasn't about anything ‘important’.
What they SHOULD have taught me was a way of thinking, because instead of focussing on my topics and mediums I should have focussed on my vision of what it meant to be an artist because I thought you should find one thing that fascinates you and stick with that forever.
It sounds kinda ridiculous writing this down and reading it, but it is the conviction I had about being an artist. All the artist we were exposed to that ‘made it’ had this in common. And in hindsight, I hope you agree with me on this one, yes most artists are a bit cuckoo for coco puffs, especially the successful ones.
But I’m not crazy, so where does that leave me? I don't have a long-life obsession with one subject (okay, except for cats, but that doesn't make me special 🤣) and I’m a functional person that also has hobbies and a life besides making art. I was also convinced that you can’t switch interests or mediums, when you choose something you gotta stick with that for ever. Well, I discovered that I don't work that way, I have wayyyyyy too many interests for subjects and mediums to stick with one in particular. And I love exploring new things.
So the whole idea of sticking with one thing made me desperate, depressed and I wanted to give up but I’m also not a quitter, once I’ve chosen a direction (I’m going to be an artist), I have to pursue every possible way to achieve this before I quit. So after struggling for 3 years I switched schools and applied for THE Gerrit Rietveld academy in Amsterdam. That was a bad choice because I still didn't know what I was doing and at the end of the first year a teacher told me exactly that: “I don't think you know what you want” she said. Damn… She was right. So I quit (that particular school). I decided to work a job for a year to figure out what it is that I DID want to do.
At the end of that year I found a school that offered Crossmedia Design. I got sidetracked and wanted to learn something that was applicable like graphic design. This was a course that didn't force me to choose one thing and it opened up my eyes! Yes, you have to choose something to dive in to and explore until you lose interest or explored everything there is to explore. But it was a conviction in my head that wasn’t true.
After I graduated I worked for 5 years as a graphic designer and I had some time to reflect on art. I hated it, accepted it, lost interest in it, got curious about the line between craftmanship and art, saw things change on the internet… Art isn’t only something for the rich to be viewed in galleries. It should be and is accessible for all demographics and incomes. Who said that art can’t be a reproduction you print out on your own printer and hang in your living room? Art has become more accessible to me because of this distance I created.
Another thing I learned is that art doesn't have to be ‘heavy’ or about something existential. It SHOULD have a universal language that enough people can relate to. Art is a different thing for everybody, some see art in things that other people see as ugly or as a part of everyday life.
I could go on and on about this but I think for now this is enough to think about right? 😉
Bye!
