Have you ever met a Troll?

Background image source: Death to Stock Photos

Have you ever encountered a Troll?

When we post artwork online, sometimes we get hurtful or controversial comments intended to start an argumentative dialogue. These people are "Trolls." Sometimes we even meet Trolls face-to-face!

This happened to me when I posted a copy of my painting "Kokopelli Conga" on Google+. 

"Kokopelli Conga" | Watercolor | Jennifer Love

I very quickly received a comment from a Google+ user (not someone in my circles) saying that he didn't think he would consider my painting to be "Art" but maybe "art" and asking what did I think? Basically, he was telling me I'm not really an artist and my painting is not worthy to be called Art.

Ouch.

Well, after my initial reaction of hurt feelings from criticism without any constructive advice or suggestions, I realized what this user was about and what he was trying to do. My first "troll." First, I decided not to bother responding at all. Second, I blocked this user from my profile.  

Even though our initial reaction might be to respond with angry or defensive words when an online troll attacks, if we take a minute to think things over, we realize that this is exactly what they are looking for. These people are looking to create contention in our lives, to make us question our art, question our abilities, and hurt our feelings. 

Nobody has the right to tell you that the work you produce is not "Art." If you spend your valuable time creating it, you use the best quality materials you have available, and you do the best quality work you can do, then what you have created is Art.  And...by the way, that very same painting ("Kokopelli Conga") was later juried into a competitive exhibition by a national and international-award-winning watercolor artist.

Additionally, many people have opinions on what constitutes Decorative Art vs. Fine Art, and many believe that people creating art to make a living and for sale to homeowners aren't really creating "Fine Art" - that Fine Art is only found in museum collections.

"Quickly" | watercolor | Jennifer Love

Gallery owner Jason Horesj recently wrote a great blog post about this very topic on Red Dot Blog.
His post is very insightful, but I especially appreciate the definitions he includes about Fine Art vs Decorative Art - pulled directly from the dictionary.

    Decorative Art

noun

1. art that is meant to be useful as well as beautiful, as ceramics, furniture, jewelry, and textiles.

2. Usually, decorative arts. any of the arts, as ceramics or jewelry making, whose works are created to be useful.

3. works of decorative art collectively.

Fine Art

noun

1. a visual art considered to have been created primarily for aesthetic purposes and judged for its beauty and meaningfulness, specifically, painting, sculpture, drawing, watercolor, graphics, and architecture.

No matter what your skill level, the art you are creating is Fine Art. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise! Go forward...be brave...keep creating...and ignore the Trolls of the world!

As always, thank you for stopping by my blog!