Intention

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Permalink Reply by Richard Ashworth on March 2, 2009 at 8:46

The word art originally meant skill or a person with a a craft, around i think the eighteenth century, the word art meant some one with sensibility, and the word originality and spontaneity came into use, the romantics believe in genius which is the root of inspiration. Artists where no longer taught a trade past on from generation to generation, but broke away from the academy's,, artists disproving lessons taught, such as red should be in the foreground and blue in the back ground
my mother had a print by Reynolds i think of boy in blue where blue in the foreground and warmer colors are in the back ground, the artist here used his sensibility intuition. I am surprised when i see articles in journals discussing what is the meaning of art , if you look at it historically it is so simple. depending in what path you follow, you can start traditionally with intention, or with pure sensibility, For art in the past is art to what it meant then and art today is art by what it means today
Art is illumination and can be done with skill, or done with pure primitive genius, if you look at all art holistically it can only mean something that illuminates, stands out in thought .feeling sensation or whether it stands out in craft or sensibility.
look at the art of the insane, or outsider art, this can only come from the fountains of their genius. and it has no intention.

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Permalink Reply by Bruce Riley on March 12, 2009 at 14:50

Lisa,
I always have an intention toward the end but it never come to fruition. It's more of a kickstarted.

It would be hard not to have an intention in creating. It would be hard not to have an intention. To be completely unintentional would be your intention if you were thinking about it. If thinking is everything then it might be hard to allow a lack of intention. If thinking were not seen as the only thing then the unintentional opens up. I for one would be of the opinion that the unintentional is by far the most influential shaper of everything we do.

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Permalink Reply by sdjrsejr on March 18, 2009 at 21:43

Hello Lisa,
I have been painting a little less than 4 years, a self taught artist. My approach at this time is fluid and loose. Starting with just a very general idea in mind spontaneously applying paint wet into wet. Allowing the information of the applied paint influence me to my next move. I do this with flowing body movements. The speed and flowing movements I believe are reflected in my work. A small amount of detail is put into finish the work. This approach to painting is rewarding to me without any restrictions. In time I hope to use the styling that I am developing and add more content.

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Permalink Reply by zxcvbnmlkjhgfdswertyujh on April 6, 2009 at 18:52

Hi Lisa,
yes I do think it is possibal, i will try to suggest how... I was taking photos of a little fire in my back garden, I wanted to capture my freind around the flame and I stumbled on a number of 'flames sculptures' that ended up being, in my view an unintentional piece of work, or a happy accident! I think we all have our days where we make an uninformed/unintentional choice /happy accident and it will then give us the intention to move forward in working that trend more! Some time things just happen. The fact that I intentionaly was taking photos in the back garden lead to the unintentional 'flame sculpture' . I could not suggest that I intentionaly went out to create it.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnanthonyloftus/3411198431/in/pool-b...

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Permalink Reply by Lisa Gobbitt on April 6, 2009 at 21:47

that's interesting, i am a great fan of 'happy accidents'! Your intention was just to take photos of your friend, but this did not happen. Does this make your photographs unsuccessful? because they don't do what you intended them to do? Is it possible to judge art this way?

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Permalink Reply by zxcvbnmlkjhgfdswertyujh on April 6, 2009 at 23:28

Hi Lisa,
I did manage to get the photo I wanted of my friend, but is was not as good as the happy accident in my opnion,

(photo of Friend)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnanthonyloftus/3411197493/

but while getting this photo I captured some thing else that was the my 'happy accident'/ fire sculpture moment,

(fire sculpture happy accident)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnanthonyloftus/3411197793/

(fire sculpture 001)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnanthonyloftus/3411198431/in/photos...

this was at first unintentional but it sparked a trail of thought that I then intentionally followed and experimented with, i still belive that it was the accidental discovery/making of the piece that lead me after the fact that it was created.

Now to try answer your question is it possible to jugde art in this way? I would have to also say yes, that is of course in my opinion, I would belive that 'art' is seen in different ways by different people and it is like what Virginia Woolf said, that we do not know our own minds never minds others, so how can someone judge what is not art for me, if I belive it to be.

john.

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Permalink Reply by Lisa Gobbitt on April 7, 2009 at 10:00

well i have to disagree with you there. i think its impossible to judge art on how it matches up to the artist's intention. Artist's itentions change constantly, depending on how the materials and processes that are being used are responding to the intention. Also, in order to judge art like this we'd have to know what the artist's intention was before the work was made, which is impossible to know.

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Permalink Reply by zxcvbnmlkjhgfdswertyujh on April 7, 2009 at 15:17

Point taken and I also agree that it is impossible for me or anyone to claim that they can judge what is or is not art to 'anyone else', what’s important is 'your personnel/social experience' and what 'you feel' about the ‘art’ in question no matter what, why or how it was created…
But to try have some clarity of what I was trying to suggest in the earlier post and perhaps quite badly, so I apologize for this. Is that I would believe that the photos/art were more successful then I first intended as I altered my original trail of thought or intention dew to the unintentional cross roads that unveiled its self to me by way of the fire sculpture/happy accident example linked above, the original intention was only leading me to follow this new thought sparked by the unintential pieces of art. That then after the fact that it was created and displayed itself on the LCD screen on the back of my camera, I then continued ‘with intention’ to focus again with intent but this time to this particular set of creations that were relevant to me and my experience, but I need not expect to have any audience understand my intent or what I see as art.

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Permalink Reply by Rebecca on April 8, 2009 at 19:25

Wonderfully said! I have often created without any clear intention, but simply followed my sensibility. I may have a vague idea of what emotion I want to convey, but not a specific message leaving me room to experiment as I move through the creative process just doing what feels right.

Richard Ashworth said:

The word art originally meant skill or a person with a a craft, around i think the eighteenth century, the word art meant some one with sensibility, and the word originality and spontaneity came into use, the romantics believe in genius which is the root of inspiration. Artists where no longer taught a trade past on from generation to generation, but broke away from the academy's,, artists disproving lessons taught, such as red should be in the foreground and blue in the back ground
my mother had a print by Reynolds i think of boy in blue where blue in the foreground and warmer colors are in the back ground, the artist here used his sensibility intuition. I am surprised when i see articles in journals discussing what is the meaning of art , if you look at it historically it is so simple. depending in what path you follow, you can start traditionally with intention, or with pure sensibility, For art in the past is art to what it meant then and art today is art by what it means today
Art is illumination and can be done with skill, or done with pure primitive genius, if you look at all art holistically it can only mean something that illuminates, stands out in thought .feeling sensation or whether it stands out in craft or sensibility.
look at the art of the insane, or outsider art, this can only come from the fountains of their genius. and it has no intention.

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Permalink Reply by JANPOLJAN on December 27, 2011 at 23:56

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Permalink Reply by JANPOLJAN on December 28, 2011 at 0:17

(sorry for my bad English).
I think the intention is one rule of those artists who do a very figurative art (or is it too when it makes an extremely abstract art?) As saying to yourself  " I'll do a nude or a landscape, or a still life, etc.
My art (which is not exposed because it will show next month) works with the idea that we don't need  and can not always be connected to the intention when the work gets different influences at the time of its making. For it occur the artist must be able to take all the freedom that only art can give. The work called "She's thinking" or "The Thinker" was the first I've done with that freedom. I had a simple concept and left me free to create and I was not sure what the final result. When you have a theoretical concept about a certain thing and part to the manufacture of materials of the artwork and if left free, the final artwork is the diversity of parts in a single artwork.
Responding: Before you create, have only a small part of the intention, then she is lost in freedom. I never know what the end result of my artworks. An intention that guides your work hinders the result of influences that you may have during the making of the artwork, preventing a surprise there at the end of the process. You can be completely unintentional, but you left out a function intrinsically human: think. But just think is not enough. Therefore, we must also have no intention, not to lose another function intrinsically human: feeling. To feel e to think are parts of the process to live; intention and unintention are parts of the process to create.

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Permalink Reply by ABEL on January 17, 2012 at 18:05

Absolutely no intention at all.

If what you observe or feel moves you to express yourself, do not even question, just go ahead and do it.

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