Thinking About My Art

It has been evident in the images of my recent work that certain subtleties are not easily seen.  Admittedly, I am not the most skilled studio photographer in the world, but these subtle changes in clear coat sheen are sometimes hard to see in person, much less in a jpg.  When I share my work with you on this blog, much of the most important aspects of the work are not seen at all.  This is not a good thing.

With the increased use of the internet, art is most commonly viewed on a computer screen.  We know this is no way to view art, but it’s just the way it is.  We know that art cannot be judged by a digital image, yet we are forced to do so anyway.  Perhaps the image is just not well done.  Perhaps texture and physicality are lost.  Perhaps one viewer’s monitor is calibrated much differently than someone else’s.  There are many unknowns when sharing a digital image of your work, but it’s a fact of life for a contemporary artist.  Posting images online allows us to reach a bigger audience than we would have otherwise, so we continue to do it.

I think artists are becoming more and more accustomed to the challenges of sharing work digitally.  Because of this, I wonder if any artists have been inclined to change their work in order for it to look better on the Web.  I’ve dealt with this issue for as long as I’ve been an artist.  But with my most recent work, the pitfalls of showing my work online can no longer be ignored.  I’ve had to ask myself, should I continue to pursue this work knowing that every single online viewer will miss a huge part of the work?  Will this prevent me from getting show opportunities?  Will collectors hesitate to show interest in the work?

The decision I ultimately reached is that I cannot change the course of my practice solely because the jpgs of my work fail to communicate some aspect of it.  I believe in my work.  I think in general it is showing promise.  And I realize that because of the failures of the image, I may lose out on opportunities.  My hope is that what viewers do see in the work is enough for them to remain open-minded about it, at least until they are able to see it in person.

When I think about contemporary art, work that makes use of some sort of subtlety does not come to mind.  In fact, I can’t think of a single artist whose work loses some key detail in digital images.  Is there no place for subtlety in contemporary art?  Have artists abandoned it?  Are there artists who I’m forgetting who face this same issue?  Certainly no artist is completely happy with digital images of their work, but how many completely lose a key part of the work?

Have you faced similar issues with your work?  Does some key component of your work simply not appear in digital images?  Have you been tempted to change your work to something that will photograph better?

I’m just full of questions about this topic, aren’t I?