The visual symposium over the topic of painting was quite interesting due to its unusual variety. Unlike many of the other symposiums which focused solely on subjects that fell under the immediate topic of the presentations, the painting symposium discussed art that utilizes mindsets found in painting. Much more than simple portraits or landscapes were discussed. The ideas found in the field of painting applied to other media were also explored. The symposium discussed various subjects in the field of painting such as mistakes, site specificity, and materials applied to other media such as sculpture, installation, and illustration. Of these subjects though, I was most impacted by the section of the presentation based around mistakes.
For instance, a sculpture by Duchamp was displayed that was accidentally damaged upon its installation. When contacted about the museums error, Duchamp said that they had succeeded in finishing the sculpture. This mentality is largely present in the field of painting, because, without the ability to accept and adjust to what are originally perceived as mistakes, artists would only create boring work. They would not be able to see the merit of ideas or visual elements that were not part of their initial design. No experimentation would be able to occur. If Pollock had not embraced and explored the idea behind the paint that accidentally dripped on his piece, a whole movement of art could have been lost.
The concept of constructive mistakes is one that greatly appeals to me, as it offers the opportunity for discovery and takes a little pressure off of me. I once thought that for any artwork to be legitimate, it needed to be thoroughly considered, and fully conceived before its creation. So it is a relief to recognize that some of the greatest artists of all time put a lot of stock in serendipity.
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