@The Pentacle Queen,
The Pentacle Queen wrote:
Buzz word at art school.
I think I might have been once, but I'm probably not now.
I have a personal definition, but I wanted to see what anyone else thought.
Often it's used here in conjunction with someone thinking deeply or seriously about something...
I think it is pretty obvious, and pretty pedestrian as a criticism, since no one pretends to be what they is, and most pretend to be what they isn't, and yet grow in the process... I do not think it works as an insult because it cuts both ways... Simply put; Art is a form, and as a form is also a form of relationship, and when people are in a form, the form sort of structures their behavior so they do not really have to relate because relations, informal relationships, without the rules of form are very stressful... So people welcome the form, and welcome relating to a minimum and following the form to the maximum... It stands to reason, from my perspective, that much of formal behavior is pretense, that soldiers salute officers they consider idiots, and welcome the opportunity rather than just letting it hang, and speaking their mind, and having all those consequences come rushing in... School, art school, any school is a formal situation, and one in which people get to pretend with essentially no harm or fouls...
The world does not need any more artists, especially formal artists... Artists need art, not art school... An artist finds some means of expression suited to his ability no matter how his abilities are constrained... But, then; art is subject, and no matter what the form of expression, it is the relationship of artist to subject that comes through true art... So again, art will always be pretention to the extent that it is form, and will always be real, and inimitable to the extent it is relationship...