Art from the Outskirts

What is good art? What is bad art? If art is untrained and unrefined is it bad? If one’s hand is trained, does one’s work then become too mechanized, mathematical and rigid? Moreover, is it ever really possible for any two artists or people to have the same reaction to a work? Painter Giff Constable argues that the answers to each of these questions remain subjective in the world of art and that expression in art is only limited by the mind of the artist and the viewer or hearer - that “good” means only I like it!” and “bad,” “I don’t like it” and that the judgment of art is itself one purpose of it which allows for the artist’s progression through critique.

The Question of Good Art Versus Bad Art
by Giff Constable - January, 2001

The question was recently posed whether people should feel guilty for calling a piece of artwork “bad”, as if the notion of passing judgment on such an intangible and subjective item was not only impossible but wrong. Being the opinionated artist that I am, I could not resist a little commentary.

People have been defining art as bad and good since the first hand outline was sketched on a cave wall. In the very early days, when art was really about representation, rather than expression, it was a little easier to say, “5 fingers, yes, that’s right” or “arms don’t bend that way, do

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