Projection & Transparency
I want to share what some may call a trade secret. Projection. For this last semester at art school, I have almost completely shifted towards using projection in my realistic, studio pieces. Projection isn’t cheating. There is no cheating in art (as long as it is not plagiarism). Projection is a tool, a tool which if used early on or too much, becomes a crippling crutch that will only work against your growth. The world today has many tools which fall into this gray area of ethics such as the rise of Artificial Intelligence but projection has been a tool that dates back centuries. (Definitely worth watching)
In the first half of this school year, I found my painting and drawing from observation reaching a plateau. The majority of my work was drawn freehand and I found that despite the time it took to draw from my own eyes, it made little difference in the final project compared to the few projection pieces I had done. This semester was the perfect opportunity to make a partial switch as apart from my painting class, I am taking a drawing course as well, keeping my drawing-from-observation skills in check. I plan on continuing making art through observation this summer as well through my en plein air pieces as art is a skill that can only improve when practiced.
I share this for two reasons. One, for those unaware of this tool, to learn it and add it to their repertoire, and two, to help break down the guise of social media. Transparency is important. Actively hiding the fact that you are using something that gives you an advantage is unfair to the greater community, like cheating in a video game. In the case of social media and art, it is often just the final product that is shown. Social media is a tool and through sharing every notable aspect of my progress, I want to work counter to the highlight reels we have grown numb to and provide proof through example of the lifelong process of that art really is.
This blog was inspired by the blogs of local artists that I have been following, Mike and Emilie Fantuz, a blog in which the only proof of its existence is Facebook posts with dead links. They shared so many techniques they use and I have since valued transparency highly in my practice. For example, I have been using vibrant underpaintings for a while with a vague idea of its advantages In part, the disillusion of transparency takes away from the awe a bit, like a magician revealing their secrets, but it is a small price to pay for the uplifting of the art community as a whole. Gatekeeping art and its practices do nothing but limit the scope of the up-and-coming artist and damage the future and progress of the practice. There are of course exceptions, take the artist with a specific gesso recipe or the sculptor with their trademark materials, but those that discover or put in the hours of research for novelty have their own independent option to share what for some is their livelihood. Nevertheless, I plan to share the vast majority of my journey so that only the effort I put in is left to judge.
So I ask you, please reach out to me and let me know what you think needs to be done on my end to help build this transparency to better connect with the greater art community. Thanks for reading!
