What happened? Well we butted heads for the entire year but in the end I told him I would try an abstract painting if he would try a figurative painting... based in historical techniques. I was really specific and said that he needed to do it in layers with oils... well the same way I had worked. He told me that anyone could do that and it was more exciting to experiment. I just told him if he had never done it before he wasn't really experimenting then. I never painted abstract and he never tried to do anything figurative. The next year I joined the Visual Arts Student Association at my school. Because we were the student reps for the teachers council we got to influence some of the decisions. I was able to choose his
replacement, a much better and more technical painter (too bad I didn't have to take any more painting). Other things that this stupid art teacher had said to me: 1. my painting could use a leprechaun in the background. 2. I should let the paint drip. 3. I needed a mermaid in the background. 4. I should put a baseball player diving in the foreground. 5. I don't understand your obsession with making things look good, the 21st century isn't pretty so don't paint it that way. 6. just take a photograph instead and be done with it. 7. I think that nude would be great if you did it in purple and green. (The assignment was to abstract from the nude. I just did it as I saw it. What's the point of having the luxury of a live nude if your painting doesn't even resemble it?) Oh and so so much more.... this is just one prof... I had many many others just like him.
Cheers,
K.D.
P.S. For the ever important "critiques" (the B.S. portion of contemporary art) I ended up referencing some Odd Nerdrum essays. That ended up getting me through some tough spots.
