After emails, messages, and discussions about this subject, I just want to toss in my two cents about something I feel pretty strongly about. Here goes….

 

No one is qualified to pass valid judgment over your artistic creation. If one has a clarity of vision, irking notion, or just plain urge to bring something into our shared existence, who is to say that’s baseless? Perhaps that decision is too big for human minds.

 

I offer this—in the arts there exists no right or wrong. No good. No bad. There is only popular opinion, majority consent, and personal preference. I don’t find reverence in the toga-clad philosophers who conjured some artistic forms or ideals that drum the beat to which every artist must march to be considered worthy. Musical Darwinists claim that the “strongest” survive. I offer a bit more Darwin: over-specialization leads to extinction.

 

Once upon a time I had a drawing teacher who said something to the effect of all “good” art causes reaction or thought. I used to totally dislike that phrase, but that statement may be pretty close to being accurate for my argument. Just take the word “good” out of that sentence.

All art causes reaction or thought.

 

I can agree to that. Think about it. Some may say what about the stuff that causes inaction or apathy? Isn’t inaction a chosen reaction to something? Isn’t apathy a thought? If you still disagree, I can argue that, unless you are completely without senses, you react and think about art you encounter merely by encountering it. Your synapses fire off messages within your brain to tell you that there’s a sensation going on. Then your brain categorizes it. All of this is reaction and thought. It can’t be helped. All art must cause reaction or thought. So, dear drawing teacher, all art must be “good”. From my perspective, all art just is.

 

Of course it’s bleak to have someone deny your message or miss your point completely by focusing on your method, delivery, or the glossiness of its packaging. That’s not the end of the world, though. Lot’s of people just want to be understood, accepted, or appreciated, or gain confirmation that others also feel what they’re feeling. Probably as many folks don’t want these things. Who’s to say? That still doesn’t justify a good or bad.

 

Really though, why do we even listen to the naysayers anyway? Power is not innate. It is granted. No one actually holds command. We give it to them. Critiques from others are important if you are seeking them to be important or if you want a bigger measurement on how to attempt communication with a broader audience. It really only goes that far if you allow it, though. Rules of art are this way as well... given the proper perspective.

 

Hopefully these thoughts will help a few others that are also struggling against the flow of the mainstream. To you folks I say this: We are the sleepers. We are the dreamers of the dream. Perhaps we should keep that in mind before we pass judgment. This will give us all a free pass to construct our own worlds, each with its own rules or complete lack thereof. We can blaze new trails. Be creative. Destroy our definitions. Reorder our limits. Blow our minds. Thanks for reading.