Style: The Elusive Necessity
Style… what is it, and why is it necessary for an artist to have it?
This is what an artist’s style is to me: (a combination of the following in no particular order)
- Medium of choice: Supplies that are consistently used will help the art-viewer distinguish the art as being created by the one who created it.
- Skill set: Whether traditionally trained or self-taught, an artist can only produce art based on their individual skill set. As technique and skills grow and become more dynamic, decisions need to be made like, "What skills will I commonly implement into my work, and which will I omit?"
- Method: How much of the “artist” do I leave on the surface? As an artist we have the option of removing ourselves from the image created. Look at a painting where you cannot even detect a brush stroke. Why is that? The artist has removed him/herself so the viewer can focus on the content and the narrative, without any distractions of technique. On the other hand, look at any of the great Impressionists. They my not have realized what they were doing when making brush strokes so brazenly obvious to the viewer. Impressionists were bringing the viewer closer to them. So the question is, "how much of me do I want to leave for the viewer to see?" What an interesting position for any artist to find themselves in. This is perhaps a subject many artists are completely unaware of, but should take some time to think about.
- Subject Matter: I’ll interview myself to show you how many subjects my art splits into.
Q: Do you paint trees? A: Well yes I do. Small watercolor trees.
Q: Do you paint abstractions? A: Yes. I become interested in shape and color as the subject matter.
Q: Do you paint on wood cutouts? A: Yes.
Q: Do you paint faces? A: Yes. I went through a phase where I painted dramatic faces.
Q: Do you make paintings of wine bottles? A: Yes.
Q: Do you create heavy textured surfaces to paint on, or do you paint light enough to have the canvas show through? A: Yes and yes.
Okay, so we learned that my style is all over the map. Now let’s look at the necessity to develop a style while maintaining the spontaneity painting had when art was just a hobby.
Having a huge range of skills is fantastic and desirable to most artists, especially artists who may want to teach art in the future. An artist who’s building an art career however, may find that too much variation in style can be a huge liability. This is particularly true when trying to carve out a niche for one’s art. I agree with Alyson B. Stanfield in her book, I’d Rather Be in the Studio!, when she states that if you produce a wide variety of style, you’re going to need a marketing plan for each style. She is right! Don’t waste your time by spreading yourself too thin. I think we as artists are likely to hip-bump collectors right out of our studios when they discover we don’t know where the hell we’re going creatively. Who could blame a collector for this? As a professional artist, we should ask ourselves, "What is my 'style' going to be? Is my style going to continue to be wildly unpredictable, or am I going to hone it into a concise workable creative method?"
If art is your hobby, fantastic! If art is something you want to pursue as a career, finding your style may become essential.
Thanks for reading,
-Jason Towne
