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The Tools of Our Artistic Endeavors |
For the artist, our tools are the ones of creation – rather than mechanized
devices of repair and maintenance. They can additionally be anything from
our companions, to our outright ‘bitch’, as some level of emotional
attachment is often in attendance. And yes, I’m speaking to you,
Lucille …
But when one’s emotion is similar to that more commonly associated with
the cheers offered to a favorite sports team – Martin vs. Taylor, Canon
vs. Nikon, Yamaha vs. Steinway – you’re not an artist. You’re
a gadget freak who would be equally comfortable with the aforementioned
mechanical devices … perhaps even more so.
Music, painting, photography – whatever – has become your competitive
sport, much like auto racing, rather than a vehicle of artistic expression.
And you additionally believe that the more you spent on your ‘brush’,
the more elevated you are as an artist, securing store-bought superiority
over the envious pauper working with simple tools. But, in truth, the only
ones who envy you … are your own kind. And none of you …
are artists.
I do have something of a liberating license to say this as one who does
possess some very nice and expensive ‘tools’. But I
will readily – and often – refer to brushes far more modest. They
not only are every bit as valid, but often offer some level of operational
superiority, never realized or known to the gadget freak.
Perhaps of greater significance is that I further get a special kick out
of utensils or apparatus more humble. After all, dropping $2,500 – or
more on, say, a guitar virtually demands an expectation that all – or
most – will be well. But it’s the highly proficient and musical
$300 acoustic that can somehow still delight me, all the more. It
offers astonishment – rather than mere, presumptive expectancy. And,
if chosen well, the price tag is soon forgotten as it simply becomes …
yet another brush, laying down another color across the canvas.
The same can be said, naturally, of all brushes – from grand pianos,
to the very microphones used to record them. The principle difference between
a well selected $300 microphone and a $2,000 Neumann can be just about
… 10%, in many practical instances (as mathematically odd, as that may
seem). As with many things – from cameras to, indeed, automobiles –
it is the refinements, often subtle, that are the most expensive to
engineer, to execute and – yes – to purchase. That last
‘10%’ becomes the most costly percentage of all …
I choose to concentrate, within these pages, on more modest tools while –
yes – also covering some of the pricier offerings. My emphasis
is in the recognition that many of you harbor all of the passion, but perhaps
have a little less as it relates to disposable funds.
And besides, there has already been much attention paid to superlatives.
Most everything about, say, Martin guitars has likely, by now, been written.
If I conjure some new ‘take’ or previously undiscussed
consideration, I’ll cover it. But in the interim, I appraise guitars
more affordable to everyone – often concentrating on offerings from
Yamaha simply because I’ve long been familiar with their instruments,
back to childhood. Those who prefer your Seagulls or Epiphones – whatever
– shouldn’t feel slighted. If you do, you’re among the
equipment-obsessed ‘gadget freaks’ of whom I spoke of earlier –
even if your “gadget” is made of wood.
Similarly, while I’ll seldom discuss the most expensive and exotic
of digital camera equipment (that many really can’t afford), I will
sometimes invite the consideration of older film cameras –
yes, still. This, as an invitation to hone techniques (even the digital ones),
to perhaps see just a little differently, or as new journey for those who
were essentially born unto a digital age, never experiencing the special
qualities of film – or the often remarkable cameras used to expose
the media. Older tools often have their distinct charms and further provide
the artist with entirely new experiences – and relationships
– with one’s own chosen medium.
For others, I know, I’ll be simply prompting teary-eyed feelings of
nostalgia … and that’s perfectly fine.
But as of this day – in this time – the media artist, in
particular, has so many magnificent options that were almost entirely
unimaginable in a previous time, not so long ago … even if some things
were lost in the balance. To think … having a custom color lab on your
desktop – and one that doesn’t further require concise
communication with someone at even the best of real-world labs.
And for those of you just old enough to have wielded tape reels in
a 4-Track bedroom studio, now having home computer access to a virtually
unlimited number of digital tracks of potential ‘release quality’
is beyond what many of us had ever imagined. This further supplemented
with piano-style keyboard samplers that coax remarkably true and
actual orchestral timbres (if not always inflections), rather than
the thin and anemic electronic buzzes of the old ‘string
synthesizers’.
For those of you born after, say, 1990 … I can’t begin to
express just how ‘wow’ all of this is ….. despite the mass
proliferation of notably shittier music. This, in part, as a result
of the newer, ‘wow’ technology. For the best of tools will
always fuck the world over when placed … in the wrong hands. It just
lets them do more damage, with greater proficiency.
But here, too, while I generally use the software, ‘Logic’ to record
digitally on Mac computers, I think the included, value-added offering
of Apple’s ‘Garage Band’ is a remarkably wonderful platform
for many musicians. While there are those who bemoan what’s
missing in the software, relative to the professionally oriented
‘Logic’, Garage Band is indeed more capable than most … well,
garage bands. In fact, back in the most innovative, Beatle-era days of Abbey
Road studios, engineer Geoff Emerick would have been absolutely
drop-jawed over the capabilities of ‘Garage Band’. Though
producer, George Martin, has long contended that they produced better music
without it – and there’s a mound of evidence to suggest that he’s
right. But I’m sure that Sir Martin would readily concede that the
realization of the remarkable ‘Love’ CD couldn’t have been
executed without the high level of versatility offered within digital platforms.
Still, if all you have is an old Pioneer stereo cassette deck from the 1970s,
use it. And even if you’re capturing images with a disposable film camera
secured from a local drug store, the fully realizable art its capable of
producing – yes – can be every bit as valid. Don’t ever
wait for the ‘ultimate tool’ – whatever you conjure that to
be – for by the time you may be in the position to acquire it, it’s
already been replaced by something new – now, more than ever. Let that
be a good thing … Perceived obsolescence can be your friend.
It often times allows you to capture your dream at a far lower cost –
sometimes within the year.
While the ‘Right Brain’ area of this site often discusses the tools
of artistic creation, do not obsess on such objects. And be mindful of an
implication: I often cover older and more basic tools. Transpose this
consideration when selecting the most current and purportedly
‘advanced’ of brushes. With this, take a moment to consider what
may – at times – be lost in the balance. In this regard, my
examinations of, say, film cameras may just be an implied discussion
of what digital has since given us – as well as taken away … And
perhaps this is what you should ‘take away’ from
the discourse.
But always remember that your most pertinent and sophisticated of creative
tools would be … your own mind – some would argue, the heart. And
both of these are the most updateable, versatile, and expansive of tools
you own.
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