Speaking of Art Blog

Twins, pastel, 8x10"

“If a piece of artwork needs an owner’s manual, there’s something wrong.”  This is what an art instructor said one day during a class I was taking from him.  What did he mean?  He was talking about giving our finished artwork a title, and was warning against using lengthy, overly detailed titles, as in owner’s manual length.  Wise advice.  It has stuck with me all these years.

Since a picture is worth 1,000 words, it really is an oxymoron to attach a lengthy cumbersome title to it.  I believe less is more in this regard.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m a word nerd.  I love words.  I love editing words I’ve written.  I want to find the perfect set of words that flow and generate just the right visual picture in someone’s mind when they read my words.  So yes, I do spend a LOT of time coming up with the perfect title for each of my paintings and drawings.  But here’s the weird thing: Short, pithy, one-, two-, or three-word titles are way harder to create than a paragraph that over explains everything I want you to see in a piece of my artwork. 

Elegance, pastel, 14x20" 

But art is not about words or explanations.  It’s about creating something visually, and what I intend to convey through my artwork might not come across at all to a viewer of my work.  What each viewer brings to a piece of artwork is what informs their unique experience when viewing art.  So, their narrative and emotional connection creates a new relationship with the work, and a title of the work not only doesn’t matter, but it actually might detract from their newfound relationship with the work.  Therefore, I keep my titles short and somewhat vague.  If a title matters at all to my viewer, then its general quality leaves room for each viewer’s personal narrative to be inserted into that title.  Lengthy specifics are not necessary and will most likely be ignored in the long run.

Wings and Light, pastel, 14x11" 

But what about if I paint a specific scenic place that is famous, or a specific flower or bird?  In that case I might choose to simply go ahead and have the title be more descriptive, with the name of the place or that subject.  But here’s the risk I run: If it’s not a well-known place and it has a more generic look about it, and I title the work the name of the place anyway, someone might look at the title and decide not to purchase the work because it’s not the place they thought it was.  Again, each viewer brings their own personal life history to my work when they view it.  If they visited a place that looks similar to what they are seeing in my artwork, then a fuzzy title won’t turn them away.  Sometimes, with a specific flower or bird or animal, I might want to educate the public with its name as the title, but I don’t always do that because, honestly, most people don’t care.  They are drawn to it because they find my artwork intriguing, not because of what the subject is called.

Tiptoe, pastel, 11x18" 

Also, truth be told, when I’ve juried and judged some big art shows, I have absolutely no time to look at titles, none.  Artwork should stand up on its own merits with no “owner’s manual” attached.  When I’m looking at a piece of artwork with a critical eye to judge its merits as art, I’m considering shape, line, color, edges, center of interest, mastery of the art medium, treatment of light, and value structure.  On a rare occasion I’ve stopped to notice a title at an art exhibit if I’m interested in maybe traveling to whatever scene the artist is depicting where I haven’t been before.  And sometimes I’ve also looked at titles to see if I can glean some new title ideas for my own artwork.  After all, I am a word nerd.  But in general, I don’t go around studying titles.  Titles are nice extras, but they should not be necessary to the story a piece of artwork should tell regardless of the attached verbiage.  Actually, artists who title their work Untitled are on the right track, although you probably won’t ever see me doing that because I love to title my work.  It’s the frosting on my cupcake.

Prairie Path, pastel, 11x14" 

In summary, short, sweet, and vague are the key ideas I keep in mind when I title my artwork.  It’s harder than you might think, but ultimately very satisfying.  I let my viewer add their own personal specifics to my titles.

Heartland, pastel, 8x10"