Friday, December 02, 2005

Art vs Craft

Comics writer and columnist Steven Grant has some interesting things to say about the perceived conflict between art and craft. He talks about it in the specific context of comics (and uses music as an analogy), but his argument applies to any creative endeavor and he makes a great point:
...the 'issue' of art vs. craft isn't an issue at all. It's not even a dichotomy. Should people who want to create... try it regardless of their level of craft? Sure, why not? But to argue that newcomers shouldn't be concerned with their level of craft, that there's something intrinsically noble and pure in working strictly from the gut and not actively trying to develop your talents, that's virtually criminal. It doesn't do them any favors, it doesn't do the medium any favors. Because bad work is bad work regardless of noble aspirations, and self-satisfaction won't make it any better. The fact is: their (work) will never be 'good enough' because none of us do work that's 'good enough.' All of us can get better, and we need to. There's always some way to do it better, and finding it is our job.

1 comment:

Jason Copland said...

Yeah, I found that article very interesting, too.

I'm still working through the craft aspect of my work... hopefully, the art stuff will come soon.

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