Quoting a fellow artist

I know it's my second blog post within one day, and I don't usually quote other people's entire posts or opinions, but I feel that I really want to share this piece of writing about fine art that I read in my friend's DeviantArt Journal here (see her work at www.dwuff.deviantart.com/gallery):

The important point is that a valid work of art promises in some way or another the possibility of an increase, an improvement. Nor need the work be optimistic to achieve this; indeed, its subject may be tragic. For it is not the subject that makes the promise, it is the artist’s way of viewing his subject. Goya’s way of looking at a massacre amounts to the contention that we ought to be able to do without massacres. - Berger, J. 1960. Permanent Red: Essays in Seeing. London, Methuen.

Keeping this quote in mind, I'd like to state the following:

Fine art and illustration are not polar opposites, but they are different, and the fine art you see me uploading is, by and large, quite removed from my more narrative/illustrative work. This does not make either of them worse or better, just different. Think of all artistic disciplines as points, with gradients inbetween them, linking them. There's so much intermarriage that can happen between disciplines.

As for doing both fine art and illustration, I'm not exclusively one or the other. It's okay for you to like one and not the other. That's how art works - everyone finds resonance in different things. I'm not asking you to adore both or either. What I AM asking is that you get out of your comfort zone and take a more critical, objective look. The entire mission of my artistic practice is to bring about that "increase" and "improvement" that Berger refers to.

Even if you don't like my work; if you view and experience it, and it makes you think, meditate, mull over things, if it sparks debate or ideas, my work is done. I can't force you to open your mind, nor can I force you to see things in a certain way. I can't expect the same level of involvement with my work from everyone. But I can provide you with material which you can use in your journey in life, material which could inspire you and/or just give you something to think about. If that happens, I'm happy.


I'm aware that the fine art scene is seen as elitist and anal-retentive. It shouldn't have to be that way. Reading and appreciating art doesn't require a degree or formal training, just a passion. Art school did not teach me how to draw and paint. They expect you to know those things already when you arrive. What art school DID teach me, and which I am so very grateful for, is how to communicate. It taught me to improve my analytical and observational skills through practice, and how to be specific with what I say instead of vague. It taught me how to handle criticism and how to give it, two things which I have struggled with my entire life and probably will still battle with to the end. It taught me that one learns as much from one's peers as from one's lecturers, and that humility and willingness to learn are the fastest ways to get anywhere in life. And, after everything, it taught me that no one has ever been able to answer with satisfaction the question, "what is art?"

- Danelle Malan