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ONE Style, Are you kidding ?

J W Kelly

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March 26th, 2013 - 04:48 PM

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ONE Style, Are you kidding ?

The idea that an artist should endeavor to develop a single style or technique and adhere to it throughout their life is short-sighted, ridiculous and not particularly creative and probably conceived by people who are not artists. An artists style is not developed by repetitive or imitative processes but by sense and feeling he or she has chosen to express.The purpose of art is individual self expression with little regard for a consistent style. None the less, when an artist works diligently and is prolific, identifiable traits will naturally occur and it's good. Some artists have been very successful with one style, technique or mode of operation. The late Thomas Kincade and his paintings of light or Damien Hirst with his dot paintings are fine examples yet it does not mean that all artists should be fixed on that goal. Being a one trick pony also has it's limitations.Then again, some artists choose a specific venue and stick with it because they want to. A good example of this is the life of the Dutch painter Pieter Mondrian (1872--1944). Mondrian began as a traditional painter in the Netherlands. He relocated to Paris on two occasions and participated in the art movements of his time. Mondrian produced several fine Impressionist works and moved on to Cubism after his influences from Georges Braque and Picasso. Yet, what he is best known for is his neo-plastic works consisting of vertical and horizontal thick black lines overlapping and forming rectangles on a pure white background. Specific rectangles were filled in with primary colors. His Paintings were titled according to the dominant color or numbered. He continued this same work from the 1920's until his death in 1944 in New York City.
It is not so much that artists are striving for one style, although some are, as it is a societal thing to label and catagorize people and things in order that the whole may have instant comprehension and understanding of a thing. Many musicians play different melodies, styles of music and different instruments and are praised for their multi-talents, henceforth let's not expect limitations for artists. Also artists should shed any self imposed limitations and trust their intuition to express themselves as they see fit creatively. Go ahead and create and remember that all progress in civilization was produced by people who in their own time were considered irrational, nonconforming,unreasonable or lunatics.

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