forums : Designer Genes

Make art... or pie.

This is video of Terrance Mckenna discussing art and culture, its a little snippet but it hits on his big points.

FIRST OFF, I tracditionally hate video posting radicals (who are usually lazy guys in their moms basement, not making a difference) but this has got some amazingly basic bullet points.

The idea that art is an innocent and pure pursuit, only made into a trade by a establishment that looked to control all outlets of creative thought. It isnt about some vast conspiracy, its about holywood and advertizing taking over a medium for pure expression (hollywood originally represented by royalty and religion who controlled art for centuries).


As a designer i am always torn between the title of artist and designer, as I know many of us around here are.

For example... (an amazing artist on our board) Bnj is an illustrator, by virtue of the fact that he creates commercial art, and the second that art becomes a t shirt he is now given the label of designer. the titles that follow beyond "artist" are just arbitrary titles, used to classify and control an artist for the purposes of commercial gain.

we as designers have the option of either embracing these names or just deciding we are what we are. artists. Its an arguemnt with myself that could go on for hours, but I think that this little clip is a good example of the bigger idea.

There are certain ironies to this whole thing tho, like the fact that iam linking you to a myspace clip, which is one of the most commercial mediums for delivering a message, but its user submitted so what ya gonna do. also i traditionally think its idiotic to think that an internet video will do anything but make people falsely secure in their intelligence (i.e. people who watched 'the secret' and thought they were now experts on vast government conspiracies), but take it with a radical grain of salt...

... and think about arts place in our world, both real and created.


gracias...

http://erocx1.blogspot.com/2007/12/terence-mckenna-culture-is-not-your.html

[ aero - 9 Apr 2008 13:25 ]

Re: Make art... or pie.

you just exploded everyones head.
damn you.

Re: Make art... or pie.

i am always tempted to say designer when involving mouse-clicking,
but to each their own.
Alos the more you come up with and make your own original stuff/ideas, the more you gravitate towards the artist side..

Anyone else a little sick of seeing the silhouette/round-circle bubble things/rising sun stripes, etc. in most promo designs these days?
seriously that s**t is trite and takes maybe 5 minutes to disperse here and there.

Re: Make art... or pie.

but there were graphic designers well before there were computers.

Re: Make art... or pie.

yes, sick of it. too many cliches.

thats the diffrence between designer and decorator.
**********
According to hifiveo ...


Anyone else a little sick of seeing the silhouette/round-circle bubble things/rising sun stripes, etc. in most promo designs these days?
seriously that s**t is trite and takes maybe 5 minutes to disperse here and there.
**********

Re: Make art... or pie.

well my 0.02$..

I think that it is what you do that makes you what you are.

We live in a society that loves to classify and separate things into categories into, genres classes, groups, kingdoms, genus, species, etc. If we choose to indulge in its safety and structure of this society we must subject ourselves to these norms.

In that case the destination comes from the intentionality of the act. I the purpose of creating said art work is to bring beauty into the world, or express an emotion or thought for the sake of personal expression, than it can be said the intent is "purely" for arts sake.
When one creates the similar or even the same work in order to function in the way of, propaganda, selling ideas or products than the intent is to convince the viewer of a certain thing. The art then has a purpose in a societal context that is not purely the expression of the individual creating it so the work becomes "commercial" and hence the title of designer comes with the intent. However that isn't to say that one could be more than strictly one at a time.
Take the idea of a graffiti artist, that creates illegal work, that takes expensive materials or more illegal activity to even acquire. He can simultaneously work as a designer to pay the bills and show work in galleries to eventually be recognized as more than just a writer, that individual would have 3 distinct purposes for creating each set of work hence that individual would carry all 3 titles.

It is what you do and why you do it that gives you you title. And since you are in charge of your own acts you are directly responsible for what you and your activities are called, designer, artist, tagger, raver, dj, etc...
a sfar as the question weather design is art...
it can be said it is art with a specified function.

Re: Make art... or pie.

oh yea the secret doesn't have anything to do with any gov't conspiracy.

[ piston22 - 13 Nov 2008 10:25 ]

Re: Make art... or pie.

ive never agreed with that, because at the end of the day making art for arts sake sitll has a purpose: making art. youre "selling" your ideas and beliefs, regardless of how "pure" it is.

whats the difference between making a piece expressing your views on racism, and a piece expressing your like of soda? both of them are there to express your feelings.

Re: Make art... or pie.

well I am not sure how to answer that. you just explained to me how it was different, one expresses personal beliefs the other earns you a paycheck.
pretty self explanatory to me..I am not hating, but the same person can where both hats..
it is the function that earns it a title.

Re: Make art... or pie.

yorue saying you cant get paid to make things you truly believe in?