Sunday, November 30, 2014

You Got Hmmmm


I've been thinking a lot about how the idea of function influences how I view what's sitting in front of me.
I know for a fact, that if a work is seen as "craft" or "functional", it's no longer eligible to be judged as a medium of Art.
I totally get it...
There's a whole lot of functional crap out there made by all of us.
To be clear though...
there is also a whole lot of crap paintings, sculpture, jewelery, glass and "what not" out there at any given time.
To dismiss functional ceramics out of hand just seems like somebody is just clearing the field.


So if a canister essentally becomes a "Doorstop" by giving up it's function,
does it become a candidate to be seen as Art?


I've started firing the lids onto a handful of what I consider Top Notch works that are coming out of the studio.
I think it's valid, but honestly, it really hurts.
Pots are pots.
But after talking about it with my kids, it's quickly coming down to presentation.
This means basing works and formally presenting them as formalistic sculptures.
The up-side is that by adopting this perspective, 
Now all bets are off.
Go Operatic.
Go Big.

2 comments:

julietteisdead said...

They're stunners! *drool*

Mr. Young said...

Why can't it be both functional and a work of art? I Think all of your pieces that I like the most are stunning works of art, and fully functional! They're just jealous!