A friend in Australia sent me this art show announcement. The show is for artists 8 years old and up.
The card is great, especially the self portrait on the front here, which is uncredited, perhaps causing the serious young artist to throw a fit like a "real" artist?
Call me a snob, but I rank artists' "realness" by their degree of self-awareness as artists, as heirs to centuries of history, seeking to plant their flag at some tiny unexplored spot in the intellectual landscape of art -- a huge burden to carry on your back whether you're 8 or 80. My rankings, from most to least "real":
| 1 | Contemporary artists, burdened by history and plagued by doubt. |
| 2 | Dead contemporary artists, buried by history and doubt. |
| 3 | Outsider artists. Rated this high because their neighbors treat them like they're crazy. |
| 4 | Artists in mental institutions. They gave their minds for art. |
| 5 | Inmates who become artists in mental institutions. Art is therapeutic. |
| 6 | Inmates who become artists in prison. Rated lower than the mentally institutionalized because they can make money as tattoo artists, which makes them commercial, not fine artists. |
| 7 | Art school student artists. Being ranked this low is part of the "hazing ritual." |
| 8 | High school student artists. With so many adult artists trading in teen angst, real teen artists are unfair competition. |
| 9 | Grammar school artists. Though obviously some of the children in the show announced above (the ones related to my friend) are exceptional and belong at the top of this list, burdened and plagued with the best. |
| 10 | Infant artists. Sure they are passionate, but is that enough? |
| 11 | Celebrities who become artists. Taking up art at the peak of fame in another field is pure arrogance, like cutting in front of a line. |
| 12 | Elephant artists. Sure, like Pollock they are Nature. But I doubt they are plagued by anything beyond embarrassment at having to perform for their next meal. |
| 13 | Other animal artists. The elephants make them look like hacks. |
| 14 | Hack / schlock artists. I longwindedly picked on them here. |
| 15 | Damien Hirst. Just kidding, though I did pick on him here. |
| 16 | "Artists" who write crap like this in place of doing real artwork. |
So, yes, I do rate child artists in the middle of the pack, but they have a whole lifetime to climb, or to rue the day they figure out they did their best work when they were 8 and blissfully innocent.