PUBLIC ART: A POSSIBILITY, NOT A PANACEA

public

1. of, relating to, or affecting a population or a community as a whole

2. done, made, acting, etc., for the community as a whole

art

1. the quality, production, expression, or realm of things that conform to accepted aesthetic principles of beauty, show imagination and skill, and have more than ordinary meaning and importance

[from dictionary.com]

Public art is appreciated. Public art is loved. Public art can be large, small, abstract, representational, words, objects, on the ground, in the sky, or on a building. The linking thread is the possibility, the potential for public art to do many things. While this is most definitely the case, we must also be aware that public art is not necessarily an end in and of itself. Having worked in and around public art for the better part of the last five years, I believe deeply in the possibilities. Yet I maintain a very critical eye toward the using of public art as a band-aid or some sort of pacifier of community. I believe it is important for those of us engaged in the creation of the arts to be lovingly critical of public art in its various uses.

The personal art practice is sacred and ultimately the business of the artist up until the point of exhibition, if one chooses to exhibit. Public art by its very nature is the complete opposite. It is expressly intended for the general public and to serve such purpose from inception. This purpose can be considered minimalist and intimate, or aspirational and maximalist—it is often the second set of idealized purposes where we need to maintain a critical eye. Proponents of public art often believe that these works, from murals to sculptures, will in some way inspire and change communities. While this is a generous intention, we have to be careful not to romanticize this idea, as public art can easily do the opposite. It can alienate the community. It can serve as a sign of coming gentrification, or it can serve to agitate the very people it means to honor. We must do our very best to properly use those resources, whether public or private, that we are entrusted with to create artworks expressly meant for others.

QUESTIONS TO ASK ONESELF AS A PUBLIC ARTIST

• How will the space around the intended artwork be used?

• Does the artwork initiate/invite coming together? group discussion? ritual?

• Are you using public funds or private funds?

• “Private” property or public property?

• Do you as the artist have a historical and cultural understanding of the community the public art is intended to serve?

• Is the intent of the public art to inform/teach, entertain, capture attention, memorialize, etc?

• Large or small? Why/why not?

• Is it about “art” or something deeper?

• Have you considered the perspectives of the funder(s) and potential viewers?

Before public art there were monuments honored and revered by various peoples through various times. Long before humans felt the need to create the external idea of “art,” we encountered and documented in clay, rock, charcoal, etc., the natural phenomena on our earth and in the visible cosmos that have served to inspire, teach, excite and ground. Mountains and their personalities, water, fire, plant and animal life (extra large to minuscule), the stars in the sky all provide moments of awe, respect, and humility.

Times have changed, but we remain the same. Natural marvels have been replaced by those manmade. We still marvel nonetheless. Our current epoch is one identified by a search for meaning, search for purpose, and a search for the real. The plastic and performative arts, in our modern society, are one of the last spaces that an overwhelmingly apathetic public come to for answers to these questions of meaning, purpose, and the real. Public art is where our nature-based notions of marvel and modern-informed ideas of questioning come together with the hope of affecting the general public in some positive fashion.

From large-scale works that command big budgets to small-scale projects that require the minimum resources to execute, when a work of writing, sculpture, painting, drawing, performance, dance, audio/video, or photo is introduced to the public sphere for general and sometimes passive interaction, we have engaged in what we consider to be public art.

Much like the artist in the studio, when one is acting of one’s own accord there are no rules to what one is choosing to create, outside of the laws of the state of course. Interactions with authorities notwithstanding, the public artist using stickers, stencils, pens, spray paint, wheat paste, etc., has no rules and in many ways no responsibility to any sanctioning or commissioning body. These works can be as simple as an individual’s name, a group name, or a deep message leading to potentially controversial interactions—really such works are free to be anything the creator chooses, but whatever they are, public art works are designed to capture attention, if just for a moment. It is ultimately up to the artist what kind of message they choose to transmit. Conversely, the artist hired by an individual or an institution to create a work on their behalf is not able to create like the artist in the studio. Even in those few and fortunate situations where an artist is hired and also given complete creative freedom, they are still forced to consider the hiring institution and their values in their concept development. As quickly as something is given it can be just as quickly taken away.

Public art is a responsibility.

Public art for the sanctioned and trusted artist is an honor and responsibility, it is also a relationship. There are countless individuals who would jump at a chance to create for a guaranteed audience and on a larger-than-life scale. To be the artist(s) selected for such opportunities is a gift of the highest regard, which signals that one is both seen and supported as an artist in their community. I find it imperative as the artist to do one’s absolute best to create thoughtful, sincere, and original work to enter into the public sphere of our shared society. The public artist has the ability to change perception, to suspend reality, and to speak directly to countless strangers. For this reason we must not be flippant with the works we submit, willingly and unwillingly, to our fellow human beings who just might interact with what we have done. For just as the Internet is full of various kinds of content with countless effects on the human psyche, from the hugely positive to the extremely negative, public art can be amazingly beneficial or overwhelmingly harmful.

Additionally the public artist must be aware of, and sensitive to, the economic realities of our society, while maintaining a deep awareness and concern for our natural environment and the potential effects of public art. From the economic perspective, the artist must be very aware of who they are making artwork for and where they are creating it. Good intentions aside, there is always the possibility of being tasteless and insulting everyday people by not sufficiently consulting the communities intended for public artworks. Spending exorbitant amounts of money on large-scale public art in financially oppressed communities, especially public art that is not culturally relevant, would be a slap in the face, and any and all goodwill intended by the project would be for naught. Similarly, graffiti-style public artworks could be an affront to middle- and upper-middle-class suburbanites.

We are currently living through real and felt change in our natural environment. To be environmentally conscious is not only to consider carbon emissions, water waste, and our meat-heavy diets, but it is to consider nature in EVERYTHING that we do. It is our job as artists, and especially as public artists, to consider the impacts of the projects we are working on, to not be wasteful in our application of resources. Every drop of paint, every brush used, every bit of metal, every can of spray paint and every scrap of wood is created by taking something precious from our earth. We must carry the recognition that we as humans are not forced to take from earth and create what we want/need, we must understand that there is always a choice, and in that understanding we must be the best and most caring stewards possible for that which we take so that we may create.

I try not to speak at my fellow artists. I do my best to speak with you and from a space of understanding, for the preceding words are born from experience and deep personal consideration. I have gone from a self-taught artist with no concept of capital -A “Art,” to a mature practicing artist with five years of experience in and around public art. From my experience serving on the Clark County Art Committee, to being the creator of large-scale public artworks in the community I most care for (a community that needs much more than just public art), I have felt every emotion one can when it comes to public art. I only ask that you consider as much as possible when using natural resources to create works of art that exist far beyond any of our individual names (and egos).

Public art is possibility. It is ultimately the responsibility of the artist to fulfill that possibility. To create something that affirms, that communicates, that startles, that inspires, that informs, that challenges, that speaks to our humanity. The responsibility is the fun part. As shared above, my experience as an artist working in the public sphere has been a seemingly contradictory one of immense joy and simultaneous heavy burden, and I could not ask for a greater gift.

CHASE MCCURDY

Chase R. McCurdy is a multidisciplinary artist proudly born and raised in Las Vegas, NV. His practice utilizes various media including photography/filmmaking, painting, sculpture, and the written word. McCurdy has exhibited works in both private and public institutions in the United States and abroad, with notable Las Vegas solo exhibitions at the West Las Vegas Library, Left of Center Art Gallery and UNLV's Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art. Additionally, he is the founder and operator of ThirtyThree Gallery (33.G) in the [Historic] Westside neighborhood of Las Vegas where he maintains an active studio practice.