Monday, September 8, 2008

Art or Not?





There is a movement right now in the SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Association) group asking for exhibition venues for small art pieces. I do have to laugh a bit since most of the artists in the group are considering 12x12" - 24x24" small. That is large for me! One person remarked that art smaller than these sizes could be thought of as doodling. Doodling? Are my 4x6" pieces doodling? What do you think? What are your thoughts on art and size? Does size make a difference in regards to artistic value?

14 comments:

orion713 said...

Doodling? Are you kidding? Salvador Dali's Persistence of Memory is only about 9x13. Not the super poster size that many people imagine. Is it not art?

Unknown said...

These are beautiful small works of art!! Love them all!

Anonymous said...

of course those are art. damn finely crafted art. what sort of silly head says they're not??? sigh. some people are just arttarded.

adrienne trafford said...

oh boy...don't even get me started...my belief is that a person who makes statements like that has issues with their own self worth - so don't take it personally. Art is art regardless of size...and your's is GREAT art...

Unknown said...

since when is art in any medium deemed art by virtue of its size? ridiculous!!! denise, your works are art in every size! :)

Denise Aumick said...

Oooh, what a fiesty lot of artists! Love it!

I just want to clarify that the person who made the doodling comment was not referring to my work. I suspect she's had limited exposure to small works of art.

I doubt she's seen some of the amazing ATC's on Ebay throughout the years.

Francesca said...

For some reason I'm put in mind of the wealthy man who wanted 12 yards of books, any books, to decorate his study.

Can we say icon painting, Mughal miniatures? Need I say more?

my croft said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
my croft said...

Sorry too many typos in the previous attempt...

I once made great effort not to miss an exhibition of paintings that literally were done on the head of a pin. One of my favorite works on exhibition anywhere is at the Cloisters, it's a rosary bead about the size of a lacrosse ball that is halved along the "equator." The lower half is a carved crowd scene and the upper half is a hinged triptych depicting the crucifixion of Christ. Meaningless, of course, because who does or should care about art smaller than a lacrosse ball?

But seriously, I think that all too often people speak before thinking. Although there is a natural tendency to equate weight (or size) with weightiness (can we coin "sizeiness"?) and overt displays of effort (how big is that? how long did it take you?) with accomplishment.

my croft said...

sheesh ... that should be "...on the headS of pinS" (one painting per pin)

Linda Cline said...

I think you misunderstood the SAQA member her talked of doodling. She said that many of the postcard size pieces she had seen looked like doodles. That would leave at least a few that amounted to much more. I would put you in the group that amounts to more. Your work is beautiful.

Perhaps she has a point about her doodle comment (not in refference to your work). I think there is a tendency for some people to put more thought into larger (and perceived as more important) work than smaller works.

You should consider mounting your work for framing and sell it as miniature artwork instead of postcards. And then raise your prices accordingly, because mounting them as art will increase the perceived value.

Anonymous said...

These are lovely, Denise....and they are art!

melicia's fiber art and mixed media said...

I agree with Linda on mounting your art and selling them as 'miniatures'. We work in different sizes as different styles. How dull it would be if we were all alike.

Angelika Westermann said...

Well, I love the word "arttarded" - will have to keep it in mind for future discussions of this kind. They seem to crop up every so often.
It is darn silly to think that only large art is art. To create art on a small scale is often rather more challenging. And the plus of small art is that you can put it up where there is only a little bit of space and you can pay for it from a small budget.
I love your small art!
Angelika