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Evaluating art

August 28, 2007

Dear Artist,

This morning Kerim Kahyagil of Istanbul, Turkey wrote: "I used to evaluate paintings

by looking at composition, technique, color, tone, texture, perspective, etc. Now I

realize that even though these are important, they are really about craft and

artisanship. I now think they come at a lower priority than the totality. I've rewritten

my evaluation process: 30 points when the passing viewer comes to a stop. 30

points if viewer gets the point--message, feeling, mood. If too explicit, I deduct

points. 35 points to artisanship as before. If, after a year, the viewer still enjoys

looking at the painting, it's worth another 5 points. Does this system make sense?"

Thanks, Kerim. Not really. All rigid evaluation systems eventually get the heave-ho.

There are so many reasons to accept or reject a work of art. In your complex

percentage system, it would be impossible to get real thoughts and feelings from

collectors. Further, collectors are not everybody--there are the vastly different points

of view of artists, investors, decorators, critics, mothers, etc. Sometimes a painting

has everything wrong with it and yet it totally rings someone's bells. Inexplicable.

Yesterday I was one of five on jury duty. While the entire slate was already chosen

and hung, we had to choose thirteen winners of cash prizes. As painters ourselves,

we all started with the knowledge that our choices might not be the public's choices.

Also, because the collection had both realistic work and cutting-edge modernism,

there was the need to present an open-minded balance. Some of the paintings

definitely stopped us dead in our tracks, although they didn't always get our votes.

Scratching my head, I couldn't help thinking my old evil thoughts. Why not let

everyone who comes to the show--both artists and the general public--vote on the

work by secret ballot? Give out the green stuff accordingly at the end.

As all evaluation systems are suspect, there's another way for creative people to

approach the game. Pay no attention to what anybody thinks. Set your own

standards. Paddle your own canoe. This includes not putting yourself at the mercy of

kangaroo courts. Simply become your own jury and prize-giver. The real prize comes

to the artist when the work is made, and if it's truly worthy and anyone wants to

vote for it down the line, maybe they'll track you down.

Best regards,

Robert

PS: "The King, not wanting to appear a fool, said, 'Isn't it grand! Isn't it fine! Look at

the cut, the style, the line!'" (from the story by Hans Christian Andersen, The King's

New Clothes, as told by Danny Kaye )

Esoterica: If expert opinion is suspect, so is that of the general crowd. Public opinion

polls are notoriously faulty. People will say they want to buy small, economical cars--

then they go out and get gas-guzzling trucks and SUVs. In art they give lip service to

imagination and creativity, but when push comes to shove it's often security,

conformity and provenance that win the day. One can only conclude that we are a

deceptive lot. A friend of mine just had to have

a Rauschenberg and went to New York to get one. He didn't care

so much what the painting was about, as long as it was a

Rauschenberg. When I asked him why he wanted a

Rauschenberg, he told me he liked saying the name.

"Rauschenberg. Rauschenberg."

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UntitledOil, silkscreenedink, metal, andplastic painting82 x 48 inches

by RobertRauschenberg

(1963)

There is 1 comment for Pointless jurying by Steve Morvell

Golden days - Dingospastel painting93 x 60 inches

On the question of how to judge or evaluate an artwork, one needsperforce to ask the artist themselves for their opinion. Art is by itsvery nature subjective; subject to the individual nature of itscreator and no other should ever claim the right to place a valuejudgment upon the art of another person. Art is one of the lastrefuges of the true individual and should be jealously guardedagainst shows and people who would judge its worth on whatevergrounds. Expressing a like or dislike is fine and also very personal -but that is making a statement only about our personalpreferences. Only the artist who created the work can truly know ifit is successful. Judging an art show in many mediums is likecomparing apples with squashed possums. Pointless!

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I had a conceptual piece of Kinetic Sculpture at a Sculpture Show for the TexasSculpture Association . On opening night the participants who attended the galacould list their 3 top pieces as their favorites. My piece, Followers of Fad, won bestof show. One participant who I thought was a friend, came up to me and interrupted

Pointless juryingby Steve Morvell, Ballarat, Victoria, Australia

From: Jim Hart -- Dec 21, 2011

My art comes from the complexity of me and if someone else takes to it that is great, but it will be ontheir own terms, just as the art that came from my whole bodymind (sic). And in saying this I allowthat I haven't said what you the artist, you the viewer will say. 'Since you are you and I am I, thenyou are you and I am I.'3

Demeaning criticism by Brad Michael Moore, Perrin, TX, USA

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Followers of Fadmixed media sculpture

my conversation with some other artists to tell me bluntly that"Your work isn't art, I don't know what it is - but it didn't deserveFirst Place..." In her shoes I would have come up andcongratulated her - instead of being a tipsy, and mean-spiritedloser. However, I must admit that her criticism had its effectupon me, and I didn't stay in sculpture for too long past thatperiod - a year or so maybe. Lots of lessons to be pointed outhere - a whole can of worms.

Pic in email and link listing won't show up

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Cat and the Row Boatacrylic painting

In a short well-written piece you have summed up thefallacies and some time hypocrisies in the jury/prizesystems commonly in use throughout the art world fromthe local art associations to the high prize upper echelonsof the art world. I have always declined service on jurieswhen invited and will continue to do so for the reasons youstated and others. Thank you for tackling a subject that isheld somewhat sacrosanct by some parts of ourprofession.

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Higher Groundoil painting

I have just been asked to be on a show committee and have been wondering myselfas to how to go about evaluating paintings. As previously stated, there are manyways of looking at and judging a painting. Some have a long list of criteria for thepainting to meet while other judges have few. Some will favor more modern orabstract, while others more traditional. I have come to the realization that when Ijudge a painting, I look at only one thing, talent! Unfortunately, this is the oneability that cannot be taught in any school. When we look at a painting that was

created by a talented individual, we respond differently.There is often something in the painting that we cannotreadily identify, yet we are drawn to and need to keepviewing that painting over and over again - sometimesyear after year. When I saw my first Sargent in person, Iwas mesmerized. All I could see was his Native talentoozing from every brush stroke. His paintings have thatspecial something. When looking at art in local shows bylesser known or not as accomplished artists, I find myselflooking for that special something again and again.

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Faults in jury/prize systemsby Peter Shulman, NY, USA

That special something: talentby Karl Heerdt, Lockport, NY, USA

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I was a member of a voting audience, voting on "best of show" paintings last year ina small community art show. The one that emotionally affected me the most wasthe one I secretly voted (as everyone who attended got to vote) for "best of show."At the awards ceremony, there were shocked sucks of artists' air as the winner wasannounced. Not the greatest or most spectacular piece won, but a simple one thataffected the most audience members at that particular time. The modest, shockedartist accepted graciously. Had the particular audience/weather/time/place/selectionbeen different, then maybe the outcome would have been different.

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Trail At Sunrisewatercolor painting7.5 x 10.5 inches

As an artist, if you submit your work to a juriedcompetition or gallery you receive the benefit of two votes.The selection jury will vote you in or award you a prizebased on the artisanship (not that they are always right)and the viewing public will vote with their purchasingdollars (not that they are always right, either). The bestprize is when you step back and know that your work hashit the mark. Does anyone else do the happy dance in thestudio after completing a work?

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I seldom write anyone concerning art subjects because few have any agreementpoints. Your recent viewpoint however really struck a nerve with me. It seems asthough artists, whether they pay lip service to it or not, are all looking for credibilityfor their creative masterpieces. We all seem to want "some authority figure" to falldown in amazement at our creation. I never have understood that. It would seemthat if we put our heart and soul into a creative endeavor and we are satisfied withthe result--the end result will be communicated to like- minded souls.

I think that the public should vote on selected artworks for prizes. Does it reallymatter if the public may not be intellectually aware of every new style or nuance?The bottom line is whether the public is interested enough in the creative output ofthe artist to purchase it. We can all sing and dance around other art theories etc.But the collector or the public is the ultimate judge. The artist should create to fulfilla need in his or her psyche. When that is accomplished--what a wonderfulendowment for the world that is. Then the artist should relax and know that theyhave done something wonderful in their respective lives. They have createdsomething that has never been duplicated and is unique. That is somethingwonderful in and of itself. Awards and accolades are nice but not the purpose forbeing creative.

Environment affects best-of-showby Mel Davenport, Dallas, TX, USA

Best prize: when work has hit the markby Paula Christen, Winthrop, WA, USA

Awards not the purpose of creativityby Joe Murray, Jefferson, IA, USA

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Plaister's lanemixed media painting

16 x 20 inches

I am reading a fascinating book on just this type of decision-making, Blink by Malcolm Gladwell, who also wrote The TippingPoint . In Blink he looks at a relatively new field of psychology -that of Non-conscious Thought, as it is becoming known. This isnot intuition, unconscious or conscious thought. It is a type ofthought that the brain processes so rapidly that it doesn't evenregister to the person, certainly not in the way consciousthought does. It is the type of thinking that lets you know youlike someone when you meet them, that lets you know it isdangerous to go into that bank/convenience store, that lets youknow whether or not you like that painting etc. He opens withan example of a kouros sculpture at the Getty and the processthat the sculpture and the museum went through to validate itsauthenticity.

As an abstract artist, I get frustrated/am fascinated when people say, "I don'tget/like abstract art." I have been fascinated by the process people go through inlooking and assessing art. I am reading Gladwell's book to try and understand thatprocess better. There are paintings that stop me in my tracks, that I know are unlikeanything I have ever seen, and give me a very tangible "rush" just to look at them.But when I am asked about why I respond to them so strongly (as I once was) myanswer is a rambling of color balance, texture, linear work, blah, blah, blah.Gladwell's book sheds some light on that process. A must read.

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Aspens and shadeoil painting6 x 8 inches

My first "real" job after college was teaching art, which included creating thecurriculum. I taught high school students, and as part of ourclasses, started having "evaluation" sessions. We talked abouttwo aspects of evaluating art, one being the technical aspects,and the other, equally important, was developing confidence inwhat each student liked for themselves.

These were rural students, and although we were only about anhour from Boston, some had never been there. This class onevaluating art came from student's questions to me after visitingplaces like the Boston Museum of Fine Art . They wanted to knowhow to recognize good art. What a great and complex question! Ialways felt and thought that art reaches beyond thought andanalysis into a place that touches people beyond words, and asyou've already mentioned, you never know just what is going to

move someone. That's one of the great beauties of art, a language of the heart andsoul.

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Non-conscious thoughtby Sarah Canadine Bayne, Arlington, VA, USA

Touching the heart through artby Stede Barber, Los Alamos, NM, USA

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Nonlinear Discoveryoriginal painting

25.5 x 11.5 inches

With only my own quiet optimism, I decided to submit anew departure painting into a competitive juried artexhibit. I titled it, Non Linear Discovery in honor of myjourney outside my comfort zone. Can you imagine my facewhen I received the phone call saying I had won the Bestin Show Urquhart Award? Can you imagine the faces of my

doubters when I shared my news?! That moment was really sweet. Who can say whythat juror chose my painting? A non linear moment in time where my artistic visionresonated perfectly right with that particular viewer. I painted what I loved, and heloved what I painted. It's as simple and as complex as that.

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I just won first prize for the very first time of entering a competition. I'm abeginning painter, and it was my second ever landscape. I painted for thecompetition specifically in the wish to have my work up on a wall, and to challengemyself. I chose a landscape of my favorite local spot, not a particularly inspiringview perhaps for some, but a landscape that makes my heart happy. It reminds meof what I love about this part of Australia. I spent a year on it, here and therebetween other work, missing the first competition, as I struggled mightily to get thetones of the trees, and the sky, and I worked until something felt right and I couldalmost breathe it in, even making it up as I went along, getting advice from a forumI belong to when I didn't understand the nature of light, and one day I knew it wasdone. I live rather isolated rurally in Australia, so I'm much on my own with my workand had to make my own judgment.

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A Rose at Hill Endpastel painting

46 x 40 cm

For me, evaluation of art falls into two categories: one ismy personal and therefore subjective assessment and theother is more formal and objective. My personal evaluationis simply my answer to this question: "Does this piece ofart make me feel better for having looked at it?" In otherwords has my life been enriched by this artwork. Theartwork could be provocative or incredibly unchallenging,either way I can be enriched as I reflect on the impact thismakes on the inner 'me.' This thought is not original withme but was passed on to me from my art teacher manyyears ago. A formal assessment requires me to objectivelyassess through a list of measurable criteria which would

include tone, form (shape and arrangement of shapes), colour and edge in additionto artistic flair, creativity of idea and execution, etc. Considering a combination of

Breaking out of the comfort zoneby Michelle Rummel, VA, USA

Own judgment winsby Annapurna McQueen, Billinudgel, Australia

Different approaches to evaluating artby Louise Corke, Australia

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both approaches may perhaps yield a balance of what is closer to the truth.

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Tango at the Valveoriginal painting

This is excellent advice. But it isn't easy to paint full timeknowing that your work has to fetch a price so that youcan eat. This creates thoughts in your head as you work:"This one so-and-so will buy in a jiffy!" instead of, "Damn-it why isn't this working? Let's scrub it and start again!"Until you have the simple genius you have no idea whereit came from, kind of fortune.

I've just been ejected from a gallery because I am not"well known" enough despite journals and articles over thepast eight years. Galleries are fickle and the world has ashort memory.

So I shall continue to dance as though nobody is watching and paint like there is notomorrow.

My work Tango at the Valve was critiqued by Eumenades (Thailand). He rated it a 5("Excellent") and wrote: "This painting has motion and brevity expressed as a densetotality. As many paintings that are informed by impressionism, there is aninteresting dialogue between the accuracy of the drawing and the unstated; the hotcolours also suggestive of location and tempo. It is an 'optimum' painting insofar asevery element has a function in its design yet nothing is unnecessary or overworked.Great stuff."

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Contemplating this bizarre practice of awarding special prizes for art entries has mescratching my head in wonderment as well. Why do we continue to do this? Themore one thinks about it, the less sense it makes. It gives the winners a falsesense of accomplishment, the losers a false sense failure, the judges a false senseof importance, and viewers and collectors a false sense of personal taste, art valueand/or understanding of art. Unless the prize is a purchase prize for a museum orsome similar arrangement, it's stupid even on its face value. It was a bad idea evenback in the old days when people ostensibly knew unambiguously what constitutedgood art or even when it wasn't art at all. We all know what happened to that bit ofcultural hubris, yet we have retained this ritualistic homage to a dead and buriedidea.

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Creations must sellby Gavin Calf, Cape Town, South Africa

Awarding prizes bad idea by Stella Reinwald, Santa Fe, NM, USA

Anything goesby Jeanne Long, Minneapolis, MN, USA

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Early Springwatercolor painting

Having entered into too many fruitless discussions aboutthe standards for judging today, I am reluctantly resignedto singing along with the old Cole Porter song, " Anythinggoes ".

"In olden days a glimpse of stockingWas looked on as something shocking,But now, God knows,Anything Goes.

Good authors too who once knew better words,Now only use four letter wordsWriting prose.Anything Goes.

The world has gone mad todayAnd good's bad today,And black's white today,And day's night today,When most guys todayThat women prize todayAre just silly gigolosAnd though I'm not a great romancerI know that I'm bound to answerWhen you propose,Anything goes"

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Featured Artist: Zidonja Ganert

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Water Lillieswatercolour painting by artist Zidonja Ganert, BC, Canada

You may be interested to know that artists from every state in the USA, everyprovince in Canada, and at least 115 countries worldwide have visited these pagessince January 1, 2013.

That includes Sangeeta Mehra who wrote: "Be the judge and the jury on your ownwork - it works for me. I'm so callous when it comes to other people's work andacutely aware of it; hence don't want to put myself through a similar scrutiny!"

And also Dave Edwards of Northumberland, UK who wrote: "Maybe international stylesshould only be used like salt to flavor our own style, but not as the main meal - ifthat makes sense. If we merely absorb the styles of others, then surely we havenothing left of our own to offer."

And also Jan Canyon of Keytesville, MO, USA who wrote: "As an old science professoronce told me, 'An expert is merely a fool away from home.' This adage has provenitself many times over."

And also Mr. L. J. (Vigodits) Swiech of Apollo, PA, USA who wrote: "In the novel SkinnyLegs and All , author Tom Robbins, through his character Boomer Petway, a welder'found' to be an artist, said this: 'You've got to toss your own salad or eat with themasses from their narrow trough.' "

And also Barbara Cruikshank of Vancouver, BC, Canada who wrote: "The only way Iknow to evaluate anything – be it art, music, theatre, film, food – is the GoosebumpFactor. If it gives me goosebumps, then I know it's for me. It has to be the totalexperience – visual and visceral for example – for goosebumps to materialize.Synesthesia possibly."

And also Paul Kelley of Decatur, IL, USA who wrote: "Many times you talk 'over my

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head' and I don't understand what you are trying to say and sometimes I don't agreewith you. That's what life is all about. You make me think and I like that. Thanks forbeing a 'good piece of art.' "

And also Pepper Hume of Spring, TX, USA who wrote, "You might say People's Choiceis the voice of a larger and more varied jury, if still an art-oriented crowd. I wonderhow often the People's Choice goes to a piece that didn't win any ribbons? I've seen ithappen more often than not."

And also Ann Hess of Bellefontaine, OH, USA who wrote: "Your idea about the publicvoting is noble but unrealistic. I'm in an Art League that has a public show every yearand we tried this method. The upshot was the person with the most relatives in townat the time got the favorite vote. Where money is concerned all bets are off."

And also Beth Deuble of San Diego, CA, USA who wrote: "I am not a big wine drinker,but I think of art much like wine - I drink it, and if I like the taste, I continue to drinkit and appreciate it. From the North County Times : 'Try 'Two-Buck Chuck,' moreformally Charles Shaw, the brand beloved of bargain but palate-sensitive wineshoppers. Shaw's California Chardonnay took first place for Best Chardonnay fromCalifornia. To some in the clubby California wine community, that must seem like aMichelin's Red Guide giving three stars to a roadside hamburger stand. TheChardonnay received 98 points, a double gold, with accolades of Best of California andBest of Class.'

And also Virginia Wieringa of Grand Rapids, MI, USA who wrote: "I'm reminded of thefilm " Art School Confidential " which was full of inside jokes and hilarious if you'vebeen in that milieu. It's all so subjective! They'd probably all be better offreadingPainters Key's twice a week and discussing what you come up with!"

And also Lenore Conacher who wrote: "I learned recently (from the Manchester TimesWeekly, I think) that the perversity of human nature (saying one thing but doinganother) is called 'cognitive polyphasia.' Isn't that just perfect!"

(RG note) Thanks, Lenore. Actually, cognitive polyphasia is the ability to holdconflicting ideas about the same thing at the same time.

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