I find it very satisfying to complete a project and feel that it was well and properly done. That it's always the goal, goes without saying. As an artist, I am constantly seeking that sense of satisfaction, whether for myself or on behalf of a client.
When I finish a work for a client, people often ask me if I like it, and I'm never quite comfortable answering that question. Why would I want to like my work? What matters to me is that my client likes the work, that my client is satisfied, that my client feels that the project is well and properly done.
It's an artifact of the art consultation process. The goal and outcome of an art commission isn't for me, the artist, to like what is produced. That's not why I am being hired. The client is not hiring me in order to give me a huge pat on the back and an energetic 'Atta Girl!' That's not what the client is requesting. A commission's goal and outcome is fulfilling the client's vision, as it emerges from idea into reality from the lenses and skillsets of my professional experience and expertise.
This continues my discussion about transactions and art, because it brings in a third partner. No longer an interchange between artist and art, when a commissioned work is in play, the focus and weight of the interchange leans heavily towards the wants and needs of a third party, a partner, my client.
This all comes from a recent New York Times Magazine Letter from the Editor, in which @NYTMag Editor Hanya Yanagihara asks the question ‘What Should We Expect of Art?’ She writes, "And then there’s us, the audience. What is our role in the artist’s life? It’s to look, of course, and to do so closely, and with generosity. And sometimes it’s to champion..."
#artandtheology
#womensart
#artist
#illuminationstudio
#melahlborn
THEOLOGY THROUGH VISUAL MEANING - Exploring the study of God through our experience of what we see.