AESTHETICS
Our Principles ...Why We Exist
Diversity Gallery & Studios is based on some fundamental principles and assumptions.
JUDGEMENTS ABOUT ART ARE SUBJECTIVE
This principle is important to everything we do here at Diversity. We believe that
art history will ultimately judge the value of art. Any other way of judging art is
completely subjective. Therefore, we choose to ignore things like the "popularity"
or the "commercial potential" of art and focus instead on only one criteria - originality.
If it's original, we'll show it at Diversity.
COOPERATION WORKS BETTER THAN COMPETITION
Competition is fair only when there are commonly agreed upon standards of
success. In the world of visual art, there are no universally agreed upon standards
of "good" and "bad." There is no way to fairly determine whether one work of art is
better than another. Diversity doesn't sponsor juried competitions or exhibitions. Even
under the best of circumstances, a juror's choice is nothing more than a well-informed
opinion. The history of art is filled with "well-informed opinions" that were quickly
discarded and forgotten.
Diversity is also as much a social project as an artistic one. We feel that artists who
choose to come together can produce positive results. As individual visual artists, many
of us feel very comfortable creating our work in private, solitary environments. But we
all also recognize a responsibility to come together to present our art to the community
and, as equally important, to provide art-related opportunities for young people. The
future of Diversity (and the visual arts) is dependent on the energy and motivation of
those who will become the next generation of artists.
Consistent with this social, egalitarian philosophy, we've chosen
to manage Diversity cooperatively.
We make a genuine effort to avoid the conventional "top-down, one boss" management model.
INCLUSIVENESS IS A VIRTUE
Originality is our only criteria when accepting work at Diversity. Every artist doing original work is welcome at Diversity. The extraordinary growth of Diversity is largely dependent on this open, inclusive policy. We even fully expect to exhibit work on occasion that most of us may simply not care for. (originality doesn't neccesarily imply high quality) This is consistent with our philosophy but is also perhaps the hardest thing we have to do. It takes an extraordinary mental leap to exhibit work we don't like. It requires a suspension of judgement that's philosophically consistent but is also counter-intuitive.
If it's original, we'll accept it, show it to our small corner of the world (and the entire known universe via the internet) and will voluntarily choose to not make a subjective judgement about it's inherent value.
-------
"Only by identifying our interests and pleasures with those of others can we find
real happiness."
Declaration of Principles - New Llano Cooperative Colony - 1917
New Llano, Louisiana
www.diversearts.com © copyright 2000 - 2004