Tuesday, January 26, 2010

I had a friend in grad school who made fun art. I equated 'fun' with 'frivolous'; I was into making "serious" art at the time.  I asked him why he made his kind of artwork.  He said something like "If it's not fun, why bother?"  He was a hard working artist, full time school, TA position etc.  So it wasn't laziness.  He just decided his life's work was going to be enjoyed, at least by him, and hopefully by an audience.  It was one of those moments when I wondered if I was making everything too complicated for  no good reason.
I'm coming around to the conclusion that I don't just complicate my art, but my life.  Just should, should, should and never "Why should I? What for?" 
Fun is not allowed in serious art, unless it's a dry grumpy irony.  Otherwise, it's dismissible and unimportant. I enjoy being fun.  It's much better than being the kind of artist I was taught to be: critical, clever, invested in the search for something sublime, not just in my work, but in others.  If you were funny, it had to be subversive.  If you were political it had to be a critique of society.