( Please note the ? in the headline ).
Recent experiences with posting reviews of web-sites submitted to this forum and getting angry responses from the submitters, set me thinking. Perhaps we could dicuss the fine art of giving and receiving criticism, especially criticism of web-sites and artworks diplayed in web-sites. Here´s my thoughts and experiences on the subject so far:
Here and elsewehere, I try not to comment on anybody´s work, unless I´m being asked to. Sometimes, here on this forum, a link is submitted many times and the submitter makes references to the contents of the linked site, so that it is impossible to respond at all without making comments on the artworks. In a dialogue on the web, I´ve made it a rule not to write anything, I wouldn´t say in a conversation face-to-face. When commenting, I try not to be a smartass; something the anonymity of the web is tailor-made for, unfortunately. Snappy one-liners from no-where tend to make any thread go straight to hell. OTOH, being polite ( or dishonest, if you prefer ) serves no purpose, neither here or elsewhere, when criticism is asked for. None of us has anything, but our personal and subjective experiences and opinions to contribute with. No amount of learned-ness can or should disguise the works and the viewers.
As for receiving criticism: It´s almost always painful to hear total strangers being less-than-enthusiastic about our babies. When I exhibit, I never ask for anybody´s opinions. Instead, I observe people; are they looking at the pictures at all; are they smiling etc.; that´s more interesting to me than the words, they have to offer. So often, I´ve encountered viewers, who have felt that they had to say something profound and I try to make them calm down: Just say if you like to look at the pictures, that´s enough for me. Other exhibition-guests are so full of their own big words, that they have no time or no interest at all in the pictures. Encountering them is the worst. I get so angry; I have get away, in order not to get into an ugly shouting-match.
Anyway, when all is said and done, really negative criticism bugs me. There´s that tiny portion of insecurity and it just feeds on averse comments. " Ought I not to have re-painted that area ? ", " Shouldn´t I have pulled that picture from the exhibition ? " etc.
I´m not sure, if I´ll ever make my own web-site, putting my pictures up for comment. It seems to me, that the web offers only the feedback, that I´m not interested in: Words, words, words. Also, the web with it´s less-than-optimal picture quality is not IMO the best showcase for paintings.
Finally, to those who put their stuff out there and wants feedback: The more you claim to revolutionize art and make all other forms of expression obsolete, the more you are setting yourself up as targets, not only of adverse and offensive criticism, but also of Hybris. And please remember; we, who respond, are mere mortals, we´re not the Nobel Prize Committee or the Jury de Salon.
Hoping to hear about your thoughts and experiences,
SY,
Kim
