I take slight issue with the way Faking It tries to turn Paul, a self described non-artistic individual, into a “true artist.” Faking It seems to have a narrow view of what they are trying to transform Paul into, and their attempts to blend Paul into the established art community remove some of Paul’s open-thinking creativity. 
In the beginning of the four-week “transformation period”, Paul is given free reign to create pretty much whatever he thinks is artistic, and his creative side expands into new areas he did not even know he could go. However, this artistic freedom is checked after a week or so as his tutors, who professionally produce art for a living, guide him towards making what they deem as acceptable art. Despite attempting to put passion and voice into his works, Paul is being somewhat molded into a stereotypical artist, someone who can fit in and mingle with the elites of the art community. Part of fitting into this stereotype involves transforming Paul’s image from who he is currently is towards somebody that his tutors think would be more accepted by other artists. To me, their message says that to look like an artist is to be an artist, and Paul seems to take this in stride by happily buying new clothes and cutting his hair. The result is a new identity for Paul, and while I do not agree with the show’s notion that to succeed in art (or anything for that matter) one must mimic other’s identities in creating their own, Paul’s new self jumpstarts him into playing the role of an artist—and after all, this show is about jumpstarting and doing things quickly.
It will be interesting to see how Paul’s month-long art “career” culminates, for despite being shaped into an artistic mold, his work is quite impressive for somebody with no art background. Of course, I am somebody with no art background as well, so my opinion may or may not be valid. I do, however, feel that it is hard to be a “fake” artist. The works Paul is creating are clearly not fake, and I find it hard to believe that others not in the know about his TV show situation would view his art as fake, if there is such a thing.
In the beginning of the four-week “transformation period”, Paul is given free reign to create pretty much whatever he thinks is artistic, and his creative side expands into new areas he did not even know he could go. However, this artistic freedom is checked after a week or so as his tutors, who professionally produce art for a living, guide him towards making what they deem as acceptable art. Despite attempting to put passion and voice into his works, Paul is being somewhat molded into a stereotypical artist, someone who can fit in and mingle with the elites of the art community. Part of fitting into this stereotype involves transforming Paul’s image from who he is currently is towards somebody that his tutors think would be more accepted by other artists. To me, their message says that to look like an artist is to be an artist, and Paul seems to take this in stride by happily buying new clothes and cutting his hair. The result is a new identity for Paul, and while I do not agree with the show’s notion that to succeed in art (or anything for that matter) one must mimic other’s identities in creating their own, Paul’s new self jumpstarts him into playing the role of an artist—and after all, this show is about jumpstarting and doing things quickly.
It will be interesting to see how Paul’s month-long art “career” culminates, for despite being shaped into an artistic mold, his work is quite impressive for somebody with no art background. Of course, I am somebody with no art background as well, so my opinion may or may not be valid. I do, however, feel that it is hard to be a “fake” artist. The works Paul is creating are clearly not fake, and I find it hard to believe that others not in the know about his TV show situation would view his art as fake, if there is such a thing.
The common conception of the word fake is often related to 'falsity'. Within the art world that Paul is attempting to join, fake has an entirely different meaning... 'authenticity', the two definitions of fake are quite different. Paul is faking becoming an 'artist', in the traditional sense. However, he is not falsely producing art... instead he is producing non-authentic art according to the art world's standards of 'fake'.
ReplyDelete