How to survive modernity as an artist
Call to action to all artists: let's be as smart as we can!
Walter Benjamin’s famous essay book ‘‘The work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction’’ was a classic during my time in Art School - that’s because I went to a University program where a mix of academic and practical classes were held and I had the opportunity to actually study Art besides just learning how to make Art in a practical sense. This book was so often mentioned, that it made me hate it a little bit at the time as I felt it was some sort of boring academic Art cliché and it was always presented to us students as a difficult text that we needed to learn so we could pass on the next test.
We jump to ten years later, the year of 2024. Pretty much every artist who is living during this year is going through major reflections and anxieties about Art. I am no different, of course, and ironically I knew I needed to go back to this book - this time with a humbling approach because nobody told me to, and I did not have a test to check if I actually learned something. Back in 1935, when Benjamin published the essay, the biggest thing happening at the time was the advent of photography and the discussions were centered in how it would impact art, with anxieties like wondering if painting would still even be a thing and how theater would be changed by the arrival of cinema. Despite the big temporal gap, this book gave me so many answers to the Big Questions™ I have at the moment (or at least pointed me to the right direction/confirmed some intuitions I’ve had) and it contains reflections that are extremely important for any artist existing during Modern and Post-modern times.
My main takeaway after this re-reading is that we have been forgetting and systematically ignoring the social and political functions of Art. To fully understand what AI means for art, for example, you cannot do it only by thinking art on a practical sense (tools, media). You have to endeavor through the big brain topics, and only then you can grasp completely the situation. Is every piece of art shared on the internet public? What is the difference between a tool and a generative program? Is AI a matter of artistic discussion, or is it also a matter of labor discussion?
To survive these times, I would say, it’s a critical time for the artists and creative people to strengthen their philosophical and ethical foundations. The anxieties and insecurities will not be solved by learning how creative industries work, but only by thinking Art critically, socially and politically, which has always been the case but we seem to have been ignoring it or pretending it’s not the case. Times are demanding artists to drop their pencils for a bit, and dedicate some time to thinking and discussing matters that are important to us - this will make the difference in the next steps of our field.
Exhibition
This month I will be part of a small exhibition held in my hometown, in Brazil! It’s been a while I don’t participate on an art exhibition - the last time was years ago when I was part of a Sketchbook exhibition and it was honestly one of the coolest things I’ve been a part of. Ever since I started working in Games my artistic activities decreased significantly because it’s less common to have such things in this field when compared to Illustration or Fine Arts.
But I’ve been way more active with Art in the past year and now I feel like I’ve been collecting the fruits of the seeds I planted. This is the piece I made for the exhibition, I called it ‘Feijoada’ as a homage to my favorite Brazilian dish.
Preparing art for an exhibition is an interesting process. For me it’s an opportunity to share with other people what my art is all about, so I try to get in deeper touch with my artistic language and do something that truly reflects who I am as an artist and visual thinker.
I love exploring broadly Brazilian and South American themes in my artwork, so I naturally gravitate towards that of course. I also love chunky shapes. It gives everything a tactile feeling, like you want to grab it and hold it, and you know it will be satisfying. Saturated colors have always been my religion - and honestly it couldn’t be different because living my whole life in Brazil I just had the joyful experience of seeing colorful nature, plump, giant fruits, vibrant flowers, vibrant people, colorful people everywhere I looked. Lines is a complex subject for me, because I always oscillated between being a shapes-thinker and a lines-thinker, so I ended up using both selectively at this moment! Lately I’ve also been influenced by some artist friends who are very good at inking, which is a technique I never really enjoyed. But I’ve been dabbling with it, and I thought it was cool to use a maximized version of hatching. And stars - everything I make has stars! I just love this symbolism, stars, moon, sun. It’s simple but makes it all look so enigmatic. I guess this would be the breakdown of the things I like the most at this moment, visually speaking :)
Dance Croquis
I randomly discovered a hidden gem in my city - Dance Croquis. I’ve been to several different figure drawing sessions, all fantastic, but ever since I discovered this one it was a life changer. In the local Dance Museum there are weekly sessions in which there is a full dance performance with poses we can then draw for a couple minutes. Each week is a different dance style, different people and wardrobe. Last week I went to a Voguing performance - it was super vibrant and energetic!
I used to go to figure drawing and do ‘academic’ types of drawings. Accurate anatomy, proportions, correct overlapping, volume - it was also fun, in a different way. It’s good to challenge yourself and it’s good to know the basics of traditional anatomy and figure drawing. But lately, since I started going to these sessions, the freedom of the dancers pushed me to try to approach it with more freedom and playfulness too. So I started relaxing a bit on the academic side, and just trying to capture the vibe of the pose, the personality of the dance style. Changing materials also helped open up these doors, stepping away from the traditional charcoal into markers has been a very interesting experience. This is a good reminder that art doesn’t have any rules!
(Mini) sketchbook highlight
I’m using a mini 12cmX12cm sketchbook and it’s the cutest thing ever. Doing double pages is just a joy! I really loved how this one turned out.
Upcoming
I’ll be traveling a bit during the next month, and I am definitely bringing my mini-sketchbook with me! I’m hoping to share some of my sketches, and much more art inspired by the locations I visit. I will also be attending an Illustration fair, and I know I will be gathering a lot of fresh ideas there too. Can’t wait to share more with you!
Thank you for reading another issue of my newsletter - I hope you are enjoying this as much as I am. See you next month!
Love the witch drawings! And a great read!