
What I would say to the applicants to the National Midyear Exhibition at the Butler Institute of American Art - Gregory Strachov, Dec. 20, 2011.

Recently, I was asked by a
Dr. Louis Zona to be the
juror for the 76th National
Midyear Exhibition which
will be held at the Butler
Institute of American Art.
Several thousand artists
apply to this prestigious
event each year and only a
hundred or so are accepted
to show in the museum. I
thought about all that will
be involved with the
responsibility and felt
honored to be selected for
the task.
I then
began to think what I would
say to those who will be
selected, as well as to
those who will not be
selected. Here is what I
would say to them.
It is a great honor to
be selected to be the juror
to an event that is so
important to the careers of
artists. My aim is quite
simple. My interest is not
to define the meaning of
art. My aim is not to judge
what is good or what bad
art. My aim is to shed light
on art..... to reveal the
shining examples of those
whose commitment to their
skills and connection to
their own soul produced
extraordinary visual
statements.
All art
is imagery but not all
imagery is art. Art is based
on a knowing. The kind of
knowing that was first
defined and inscribed on
Apollo’s Oracle of Delphi
temple, where the words
“know thyself” greeted all
visitors to that city. There
is a difference between
learning and knowing, just
as there is a difference
between seeing pain, feeling
pain, watching death and
dying. The same difference
may be cited when comparing
artists and painters, and is
analogous to comparing
composers to musicians.
A musician is someone
who has perfected his or her
skills. Trained musicians
should be capable of playing
any written piece of music
on their chosen instrument.
However musicians need the
notes that were written by
others as guidelines in
order to play. In the same
way, painters seek trends,
styles, and the ideas of
others in an attempt to make
these their own. They rely
on the guidelines that were
offered in school as rules
without realizing that many
guidelines that are
presented in schools are
done so for the purpose of
assigning a method to
measure success and to offer
a grade for the class. It is
difficult to teach art in a
conventional classroom
environment. It is ironic to
have rules and trends to
guide the freedom of the
creative process.
Art
is not only a subject but
rather it is a visual
reaction to living and to
thought. Many students of
art have not lived enough or
experienced enough to be
able to say something other
than show a mastery of their
skills. Leonardo De Vinci
once said: "to be a great
artist, one must first know
as much as possible about
all things". There is a lot
to be said about this.
A composer, for the
purpose of example, is
analogous to an artist. A
composer writes his or her
own music and then finds a
way to convey that music
with the hope that it
reaches the heart of the
listener. This is what an
artist does. Here, several
distinctions might be cited.
There are composers who
mastered their musical
instrument to such a high
degree that the music they
write is composed only for
the purpose of displaying
the mastery of their chosen
instrument rather than to
communicate. All they are
saying is that they can
play. There are artists who
paint in much the same way
and for a similar purpose.
Some artists are preoccupied
with creating images which
only reveal the mastery of
their skills but offer
nothing more for the viewer.
It is rare to see an artist
who creates work that would
stand the test of time and
that is created for the
purpose of conveying ideas
with sincerity for the
viewer to witness. Art is
much more than producing an
interesting and complex
image whose technique alone
mesmerizes the viewer.
I recall giving an
example during a speech that
I made long ago during my
first museum exhibition.
There is an enormous yet
very subtle difference
between an image produced by
an artist and that of a
painter. For example: If one
asks a speaker to say a few
words at a funeral about a
deceased who they have never
met, common sense and their
own intelligence and
speaking skills would help
them arrive at a thoughtful
statement. To someone
passing by, these would be
wonderful and thoughtful
words…..that is a painter.
However, if one would be
asked to speak at the
funeral of their own father
….… that is an artist. This
is what an artist does when
an artist paints.
My
purpose is not to define art
but to shed light on what
art can be. There are as
many theories and
definitions about art as
there are artists. My ideas
abut the meaning of the word
fill a full spectrum of
thought, from simple to more
complex. Although my
definition of art rests more
in the science of
Neuroaesthetics than
anywhere else. All thought,
decision, reaction and
interpretation lies within
the intercellular
interactions within the
neurology of the brain. The
interconnectedness of the
neural networking and our
understanding of these
processes will provide the
ultimate definition of what
art truly is. Until then, we
can only hope to understand
and make our decisions by
listening carefully to the
silent utterances of our
soul as it seeks its own
reaction to the visual
thoughts of others.
Art is a type of
communication where feelings
and non verbal ideas that an
artist feels are
successfully communicated to
the viewer, who senses the
same awe, or emotions, or
visceral reaction as the
artist without even
understanding why. This
would be the primary
criteria which I would use
to select work for this or
any exhibition.
It
takes years of practice to
be able to spot the subtle
differences between an image
and a work of art. In the
same way, one might listen
to various composers perform
Beethoven’s seventh
symphony. However, after
becoming very familiar with
Beethoven’s seventh
symphony, one can then hear
the subtle differences
between the performance of
this symphony as done by
Leonard Bernstein, Karl
Bohm, or Herbert von
Karajan. Each is a renowned
conductor and each guided
the orchestra in his own way
producing subtle differences
that only a trained ear can
notice. One of these
conductors seems to
interpret the symphony only
by having the orchestra play
the notes in a technically
correct fashion. Another of
these composers adds pauses
and subtle changes that add
a unique and interpretive
mood to the piece, which
makes it unforgettable and
permits it to stir the
marrow in my bones in ways
that could not be described.
This is the same as the
difference between looking
at a imagery and finding
art.
In summary, all
art is imagery……but not all
imagery is art, just as not
all noise is music. The
works that I would select to
this National Exhibition are
works which exhibit more
than technical ability, more
than adherence to trends,
more than humility or
technical arrogance. The
works that I would select
are those who touch the
soul, not by their noise,
but by their silence.