Artist Statement
image from Wikimedia Commons
So I am compelled to say visual
artist statement because you may think I am an actor, who we now call artist.
Not saying that actors are NOT artists, but they used to be referred to as actors
and actresses, maybe thespians, and easy to differentiate from artists who are
painters, printmakers, photographers or sculptors and the like. And of course, I
am not talking about musicians, who used to be called musicians, or trombonists
or pianists and not artists. But they are artists now, too, so you have to make
sure you know when people mean musicians and not actors or actors and not
artists, I mean visual artists.
How come this feels like
stepping backward for visual artists? You can guess that it follows that an
article in a newspaper, blog or webzine referring to artists probably does not
mean visual artists. Visual artists seem rarer in the press than ever. It
reminds me of black people in the 1950’s, today artists are usually found at
the back of the book! Don’t believe me; take a look at some of the publications
that used to be the go-to read to find out what’s up on the local art scene. You
have to page through a lot of artists to get to the visual artists.
Why am I feeling that
artists, visual artists, have become background noise? I have also noticed that
often print publications don’t identify paintings, drawings and sculptures in
photos. The art may even get a mention but the artist does not!
“Wonder who the artist is”,
I ask myself, and I look for the credit. If the article is about an artist who
is a musician or actor who lives in a great house that some musicians and
actors seem to find affordable moreso than visual artists who have nice
studios, maybe, but rarely make the money an artist who is a musician or actor
makes to buy the high end art that will be in the photos that don’t get
identified. Can you imagine the reaction editors would get from a musician
whose work was used in a clip on the internet and the music was not attributed
to the creator or performer? Lawsuit, lawsuit, lawsuit!
Hey, in most magazines the
clothes are identified that folks are wearing. The stylist who chose the
clothes is named. The model and the agency are named. So what is the problem with the visual artist
getting their props?
Don’t really know when the
transition took place. It crept into my consciousness as I started to pay
attention to all the visual art I saw on TV shows, and in magazines that was
not given credit. And one day it also sunk in that “artist” no longer only
meant what I do. We have been ignored, demoted
and dismissed.
