Flashlight Theory

I devised a theory a while back after watching a jury pool decide who was going to be in an art exhibit and what wasn't.

I call my theory the "flashlight theory", it starts by thinking of the process as, a dark room filled with people. A bright light suddenly comes on and the people in the beam of light are the ones selected to exhibit/acknowledged as artists and the others are not even seen or considered.

This process has helped me understand how impersonal this exhibit process really is. It makes it a little more understandable when artwork you personally thought was mind blowing gets left out of a show.

Art is really subjective and often what is loved by one is never even seen by another.

The process of picking up a work of art that you labored over and feel such a personal connection to is a painful one. Like someone doesn't love you or you are not really worthy of the title artist. It is at times like this that I find solace in my theory.

I often think of the Mona Lisa as a really great example.

Years ago the Louvre had her hung in a fairly small room (small by Louvre standards) and people flocked to see her. When I saw the crowd in front of this painting behind thick glass, poorly lit and overwhelmed I started looking at the paintings that were hung next to her and around the room. They were amazing works by Di Vinci and his peers, I would even go so far as to say, more interesting than Mona. No one was looking at this work...

It was the Flashlight theory at work in the middle of the day!

Here are my works that missed the light this weekend in a juried competition....