Skill In Art

collage, print, digital art

X Marks The Spot, RTomens, 2017

Lying in the bath listening to Resonance FM the other day the DJ played the Portsmouth Sinfonia 'live' at the Royal Albert Hall and since The Proms is about to end I thought about how such a madcap venture as the Portsmouth Symphonia probably wouldn't get to play there now.

The orchestra, of which recognised composer Gavin Bryars was a founding member in 1970, comprised of students from the Portsmouth School of Art. Anyone could join despite not being musicians and those who were had to play instruments they were unfamiliar with. Sun Ra did that with his Arkestra in 1966, resulting in Strange Strings, surely the 'strangest' 'Jazz' album ever made. He stopped short at using non-musicians, though.

Unskilled as they were, the Portsmouth Symphonia became a big phenomenon in the 70s, because they were unskilled, obviously. That could be seen as a precursor to today's Britain's Got Talent anti-skill phenomenon wherein the blatant 'failures' are successful. That, in part, annoys the hell out of some, myself included. Yet on the other hand, there's something about the audience's support of the 'talentless' that I find...interesting, even commendable. Those who took the Portsmouth Symphonia to the heights they reached were obviously precursors to BGT voters today.

I was sharing a joke about 'skill' in Art with Facebook friends the other day. It's a subject that's long been debated in the art world. Not only have critics used their idea of skill as a reason to slate conventional painting, but the apparent lack of traditional, formal training displayed in many other art forms also raises hackles. Unfortunately, some can't help but be shackled to tradition to the point of declaring, of an abstract artist: "He can draw, really, he just chooses not to!". As if being able to draw qualifies an artist to not use that skill. The old 'learn the rules before you can break them' idea.

Yesterday I opened a 'canvas' with a view to improvising, knowing I would, at some stage, do some drawing. Despite what a friend said last year upon receiving some of my drawings in the post, I really don't consider myself skilled in that area. Here we have to remind ourselves that 'skill' is relative. If I can render something that looks a bit like an elephant, those who couldn't even scrawl a resemblance might think me 'skilled'. 

The point of X Marks The Spot was to make marks, so the title's meaning is twofold. Not just marks, of course, but one thing lead to another and my idea of drawing couldn't help but be reduced to more of an idea than actual action by my preference for found material. The 'horse' that is my lack of traditional skills no doubt came before the 'cart' of what I make. Had I studied at school, things would be different. Naturally (?) our secondary school art teacher wanted to instil in us the traditional skills. If a revolution in art teaching evolved during the 70s, he wasn't having any of it. 

I maintain, though, that art should be a free experience. By which I mean it should be play first and foremost, not study, graft or hard work. When art is reduced to the same level as the sciences or History, it loses all potential for magic and wonder. If those words sound a little romantic, I simply mean the thrill of creation in its purest form. How many children (and adults) are robbed of the pleasure of Art because they're deterred by the supposed skills needed to create anything worthwhile? 

Any artist equivalent of the Portsmouth Symphonia is unlikely to gain their degree of success. Having said that, the products of many successful contemporary artists might cause serious doubts about the degree of skill on show from some critics. Regardless, I believe we should all be like the orchestra in our attitude. Let's play on and to hell with what others think.