A Rain of Frogs

M&B Resto-bar – Toronto (43° 39’ 9” N x 79° 21’ 58.8” W)

An Historical Downpour is a feature of A Rain of Frogs. It isn’t common, but once in a while I feature something I wrote on a different blog under a penname. Enjoy.

Originally posted as “In praise of different” at 11:01AM on August 9, 2004.

As a followup to my last space-filler, I’d like to point out another seeming oddity in the creative-critical relationship. It’s one that drives me nuts. It seem that the more talented the artist, the more praise they receive.

So what, you say. I can see it in your faces. So what? SO WHAT? Yeah, uh, so what? Its not a big thing, just a funny observation. The more talented the artist, the more breathtaking the creation, the more praise and encouragement we shovel on. Which is good. It really is. We should be encouraging our talented artists.

But what about the less talented, or the ones who are a few rungs lower on the ladder of experience? Shouldn’t we be making even more of an effort to encourage these up-and-coming artists? Remember, if a piece of art creates an emotional response, it has succeeded in its primary purpose. Because that’s what art is.

We need to encourage our less visible artists, to push them to make us feel in different ways. I for one am tired of emulation, and am ready to be truly stunned by some individuality. Note I said individuality, not brilliance. Not talent. I want something completely different. Not anti-establishment, because that’s just a negative value of status quo. I want different (maybe I should take a look at the plank of a website I’m publishing this on).

And I’m ready with my criticism and encouragement for all those up-and-comers who are willing to take a chance and show us their stuff even if it isn’t as polished as the work of the “greats.”

Front Street Sobey’s parking lot – Toronto (43° 39’ 0” N x 79° 21’ 58.2” W)

An Historical Downpour is a feature of A Rain of Frogs. It isn’t common, but once in a while I feature something I wrote on a different blog under a penname. Enjoy.

Originally posted as “Critical Mass” at 12:43AM on August 9, 2004.

One of the powers of the Internet, and the one that is most applicable to creative types like artists, designers, writers and musicians, is that it allows us to instantly expose our work to potentially millions of eyeballs (or ear-balls, for the musicos). This is a power that most pre-web artists would have given their left ear for. This massive potential exposure has also revealed a gaping hole in the educations of creative types everywhere while at the same time making it clear that those millions of eyeball aren’t as wonderful as we might have thought.

The hole in creative education I am talking about is the ability to take criticism. I cannot believe the massive number of thin-skinned creative people I meet. As an artist and a designer, I am regularly in discussion with other artists and designers, and find it sometimes difficult to communicate with them. As soon as I point out that this element or that colour, while pretty interesting in their own right, may not be the best solution for the project at hand, the protective walls spring up and a defensive (and intolerant) posture is assumed.

This doesn’t just apply to those in the visual creative fields either. It seems more and more musicians are whiny prima dona personalities that believe they are perfect and above the constructive criticism of others. This more than all other situations is what causes bands to break up. Writers I meet are defensive and arrogant, and often the first to scoff at a suggestion unless it is presented with perfect grammar and punctuation. Even then, they are merely humouring the critic, waiting for them to leave before spouting some haughty and arrogant comment about the decline of literacy in the western world.

Creative types, visual, aural or otherwise, need to get their collective heads out of their collective a$$ and figure it out. Criticism is part of the creative process. It allows us to see and hear things as our audience does, instead of being limited to our own point of perspective. Constructive criticism is more valuable than equipment, and at least as valuable as practice. It’s pure gold.

On the other hand, the masses need to learn to criticize constructively. “WOW! That’s awesome” is a fine comment, but its about as constructive as “That sucks.” Surely if something you see or hear is worth commenting about, it’s worth commenting in a way that may improve it. And this is the downfall of the ‘net when it comes to creative endeavours. It’s easy to spew vitriolic comments while hiding behind the wall of anonymity, but it doesn’t do anything to make the quality of creative works on the Internet any better. In fact, this sort of hostile response is causing artists to eschew the ’net altogether, and seek a place where their thin-skins won’t be punctured.

I’m no great artist. I’m certainly not a great designer. I’m not a great musician and I’m certainly not a good writer, but I am willing to separate the wheat of constructive criticism from the chaff of useless ego-feeding (mine or the critic’s) comments in an attempt to improve.

An Historical Downpour is a feature of A Rain of Frogs. It isn’t common, but once in a while I feature something I wrote on a different blog under a penname. Enjoy.

Originally posted as “Crashing the party” at 11:44AM on July 8, 2004.

I never understood why anyone would want to crash a party they weren’t invited to. First of all, if you’re not invited, there’s probably a good reason for it.  Maybe its because you’re not liked. Maybe its because you don’t know any of the people at the party. Maybe it’s because you’ve made lots of mistakes in the past and people don’t want you be associated with you.

It’s natural to want to blame the people at the party, or even those running it. They’re elitist. They’re vengeful. They’re cliquey, and they’re mean for not including you in their activities. But that’s the wrong response.  If you’ve got a bad reputation, how is crashing someone’s party going to improve it? That’s just going to drag your reputation further into the mud. Perhaps trying to atone for your behaviour is a more appropriate course of action.

Of course, atonement is hard. Lots of people don’t have the stomach to own up for their actions. Its perhaps the most serious widespread personality disorder in today’s society, the inability to account for ones actions. You see it in politicians who lie to keep out of trouble, you see it from businesses who, due to poor operating principles, end up raising the price of their products to compensate financially for their bad management skills. You see it everywhere. And what makes it worse is that there’s no reason anyone has to have any respect for your desire to change. Its not their problem. It’s yours.

Think about it.