How long should an artist spend creating a work of art?
December, 04; 2024. By Arscodex
Shitao Rocks, Orchids, and Bamboo painting fragment
To do this we can separate the work of art into two parts, on the one hand the concept, that is, the idea, of the work in question (perhaps this is the most valuable part of the final piece), and on the other the material execution (the time it takes to capture the idea on a certain support). It should be said that now, at this very moment, with the so-called AI, that is, artificial intelligence, some lazy artists are leaving aside the execution so that the aforementioned AI can carry it out entirely, providing only the concept.
It is also worth mentioning "inspiration", that kind of divine breath that floods the artist at the moment of the creation of the concept mainly, which is usually closely linked to the artistic concept of "first attempt", that is, the first manifestation of that inspiration, the first brushstroke, the first take, etc.
It should be said that both ideas expressed in the two previous paragraphs, that is, the concept and the execution, as well as the "first brushstroke", will be seen in separate articles in the future in this same magazine that the reader likes so much.
To narrow down the matter, in general, the work of art should take, as we have said, the normal time it takes to finish a work of its kind. If it takes longer, we could be "confusing" the matter or the work itself could not be being executed according to the criteria of "inspiration" mentioned above. And the thing is that a work of art, if it doesn't fit well at first, don't ask me why, it could mean that it is not fitting according to the criteria of "first attempt" mentioned. If it takes less time than necessary to finish a work of art, this could also be a fault because the resulting work has the character of a preparatory sketch.
To be even more precise, as Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones says, and confirmed by the person writing this text (Pedro Alonso Pablos), good songs come out in five minutes, both music and lyrics. If you have to dig too deep into the matter, you could be losing freshness.
Films also have a standard shooting time and if the thing is prolonged this could mean a discredit for the work, although this is not always the case. For example, it is known that Francis Ford Coppola has had great problems during his career to finish certain works, such as the recent Megalopolis. Perhaps this example of this director is the exception that proves the rule, as many of his films are considered masterpieces today.
As regards painting, we can say that, following the path of the artistic doctrines of the Chinese painter Shitao, the brushstroke of a painting must be shown with a certain freshness, airiness, decisiveness; circumlocutions and retouching are not welcome in this plane; therefore, the "scoop" is seen as something important.
As regards painting, we will mention a contemporary Spanish painter, Antonio López, who, in a documented way, has taken about 20 years to finish the portrait of the Spanish Royal Family, when some of its members had already divorced, etc., in another example that is an exception that proves the rule.
So, in this short article that is coming to an end, we can confirm that it is normally better for the artist to use the standard time required for its genre to finish a work of art; if it takes less, it will be a sketch; If you take longer, you may just complicate things and things may not turn out so well.
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