by Kirk Stefanski

Created on: October 27, 2008   Last Updated: August 05, 2009

The subject of a subject in/of art can be a perplexing topic. Art is contingent on the temperament and reasoning, or lack thereof, of the artist; his or her expectations, or lack thereof, as well. A general description of art's most prevalent subject matter is as ultimately slippery as a definition for art, and possibly a matter of mere statistical curiosity. In painting, people and places are common, but who's to say for certain if that's true. You'd have to take a tally maybe. Abstraction abounds, but that's a quality...a method or filter, not a matter subject. Why then should it be matter? An emotion may be a subject so much as a face or place and, of course, abstraction may be employed to the extent that recognizable shapes are reduced to areas of color.

Indeed, the course of modern art has made for its subjects the mundane to the hopelessly unrecognizable. In terms of not only its artistic impact, but of its lasting value as a gift to humanity, many people question the purpose of art without an immediately recognizable subject. An artist may create art without regards to its reception though this may be more akin to a reflexive action, rather than a conscious effort at creation.

Artists often seek to escape established parameters and conventions. The extent to which this is carried out may give the finished work an individuality compared to the mainstream. It is a sad truth that many artists abide by the pressures of fashion into inanity, while others in their effort to subvert perception regarding art are able to use techniques of a traditional or classic nature to express subversion, as forms with a statement are easier to read than formless statements.

Perhaps the question of what to depict in art shouldn't be asked until one asks how or why. Our own motivations ultimately lead us to create art and, then, how do we know what we have? Do we have a class to compare it to? In all created images, sculptures, poems...an impression is imparted. How does it stand apart? Should it? What if there's nothing objectionable with the "it" that is stood apart from (though of course there often is).

It's true that art has as great a capacity to upset an established set of patterns with originality once stagnation of thought, perception, or action has taken hold, as it does to have a single meaning, to a single person in this world...or no meaning at all. It can also at once have and have not a meaning.

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