PhotoDude.com

Sun. Jun 17, 2007

Digital Ageism Part One: iArt, Your Inner Child, And How He Dresses

I’ve always taken a rather liberal view of “art.” Perhaps because it has never been my career. Or perhaps because some of those who have made it their career seem to have a rather distorted view of it. For example, David Hockney. He thinks iPods are causing the decline of visual art. And you dress poorly, too.

Speaking on the eve of his 70th birthday, Britain’s best-loved living painter said the proliferation of iPods — Apple has sold more than 100 million worldwide — and other digital music players has combined with a decline in art education to create a “fallow period of painting”.

“We are not in a very visual age,” Hockney said. “I think it’s all about sound. People plug in their ears and don’t look much, whereas for me my eyes are the biggest pleasure.

“You notice that on buses. People don’t look out of the window; they are plugged in and listening to something.”

Sydney Morning Herald: iPods to blame for total eclipse of the art, says Hockney

First of all, iPods are simply not prevalent enough to cause the vast effects he perceives. Even in an urban area, I’d be surprised if more than 10% of people walking about are “budded up” and blocked out within their iWorld. If you want to talk about high market penetration of a disruptive technology, let’s talk cell phones. Some other time.

As shocking to Mr. Hockney as it might be, iPods/iTunes and the iLike can even be quite symbiotic with creative work. Even unintentionally dependent. I’ve reached the point where I almost always have music playing if I’m trying to get some serious work done. In fact, in my experience that’s the most common usage I see of iPods and similar devices. People at work who want to have their tunes without bugging anyone else around (as well as tuning out interruptive noise).

Beyond that, I’ve always seen creativity as a continuum. Someone who excels at a visual art is also likely to enjoy music. Or movies. A musician may also love painting. One creative skill set can actually be quite useful in either appreciating or even participating in another creative arena. Of course, history is littered with failure in those areas. The infamous William Shatner album comes to mind. And I’m probably guilty of it as well. But that comes back to my rather liberal view of “art.”

Art is a creative expression that was made to please the person who created it. And that is the level on which it succeeds or fails. If other people like it, dislike it, or even want to buy it, well, that’s great. But that’s not the reason it was made.

Today, it is relatively easy for millions of people to use reasonably priced tools to create photos and other visual art, songs, movies, books, etc. and save them in a digital format that can easily be uploaded to the Internet. Is it all “Art”? Of course not, but frankly, neither is all that is on display in your average gallery or museum. It again comes down to “the eyes of the beholder.” And there’s a lot of this iArt to sift through.

The dabbling I’ve done in Garageband fits that description fairly well. I did it because it was fun. And because I could. I know I didn’t create “Art” with a Capital A, it’s mediocre music at best. But it also makes me appreciate all the more when I hear it done “with a Capital A” by someone else. And one cannot predict when the most basic creative realization in one area will make an impact in another area where you are more practiced.

Creativity is often about knocking down barriers, or realizing that they were in your mind all along and never really existed. It’s particularly hard as you get older, he said from experience, and I can’t help but wonder if that’s part of Mr. Hockney’s symptoms:

“I think we are not in a very visual age and it’s producing badly dressed people. They have no interest in mass or line or things like that.”

Well, yes, 70 year old men have been decrying the way youngsters dress for, oh, I don’t know, maybe 4,000 years of human civilization. Nor do you need to be 70. Ask my wife, she’ll tell you I believe the world is going to hell in a handbasket, and I say it as if it has never been said before. In 4,000 years of human civilization.

But I’m just spoutin’ off. My gosh, in Louisiana, they’re trying to legislate it:

As states, cities, and activists across the country either outlaw or hold belt rallies to draw attention to the trend of “saggin’,” Delcambre, La. (pop. 1,700) last week took the boldest step yet. Getting caught with one’s pants too far down could now cost $500 in fines — or six months in jail — at least on this side of Bayou Carlin.

“It’s just unbelievable what they do with their pants,” says Carol Broussard, the town’s mayor. “What’s next? Are they going to take their pants off completely?”

“This isn’t so much about comfort or carelessness or letting something fall where it naturally falls, it’s a specific look and a statement which some people have to work hard to affect, sometimes seeming to defy gravitational laws,” says Robert Thompson, a pop-culture expert at Syracuse University in New York. “It represents a certain attitude and style that people are very nervous about.”

CS Monitor: In Louisiana town, wearing low-rider pants may cost you

Would Mr. Hockney approve of local governments legislating fashion? Is that what we really want? Need?

But maybe the truth is that those “badly dressed people” are expressing themselves in manner not intended to impress or be appreciated by a nearly 50 year old, or a 70 year old, or a town mayor. And never mind their clothes, it is also highly likely that their artistic output might be confounding as well.

Because we are not their “target audience.” They are.

I think the bottom line is that creative spirit comes from our inner child. Some never retain their inner child after they become adults. But if you do, as you get older, you really have to cultivate it more. I try to feed mine daily. I think Mr. Hockney’s could use a Snickers bar. And maybe a properly loaded iPod.