HOW TO WRITE AN ARTIST REVIEW pt 3: HANS SCHIEBOLD

At the Lawrence Gallery via DG Studios

Seeing art online is instant replay; seeing Hans Schiebold in gallery is game time.

An artist review isn’t a trip to the dentist. You don’t need to pull any teeth to get it done.

If the artist is someone you see weekly, and they don’t like your review, welcome to the party.

Be fair and honest and you’ve done your job. That’s the party you throw.

Before you start you need to see how both art and artist interact with the real world. In this case ‘real world’ means gallery time.

Most people know, or think they know, artists through their work. If you doubt it, just ask someone to explain the paintings on their walls.

If the conversation goes off the tracks, blame art. It’s just doing the art job.

A fan of artwork is one thing; fans of an artist brings a whole new dimension.

Hans Schiebold has fans of both.

In your artist review you’ll want to find a hero. It’s either a painting, a painter, or the era producing both.

Ask yourself who your hero is. The hero of this post is Mr. Schiebold, and for good reason.

He’s the man on the right near the lady in blue.

Without a hero an artist review falls into the usual trap of art history, art appreciation, and art ideology.

If that’s you, try and make it fun. You don’t need to filter every page of Janson’s History of Art to show off.

Get into that with experts in the field and they’ll drag you into the deep waters of obscure artistic evolution to drown.

Look at the art. Look at the artist. Stare and compare, then write it.

See the faces below and notice the joy. It’s not for the camera, not all of it. The expressions come from being surrounded by art.

Keep joy in mind the next time you hear someone ask, “What’s the point of art? These people have too much spare time on their hands. I’d paint if I weren’t so busy.”

Yes. You. Would. And it would be special. Probably.

The face you see below grew from a lifetime pursuit of art.

That’s Hans on the left next to oil painter Judy Hensey.

He came to America after a German upbringing.

She came to America from England after serving in the English Navy during WWII.

If the subject of your artist review comes from an interesting background, try and include it in your writing.

Fans of art focus on the work. Fans of the artist split their time between art and artist.

A sure way to know if either has the pull you think they do, try to determine what sort of people find the time to participate in public shows.

When your favorite sports figure comes to town with their team, you go see them perform. The same holds with art shows.

Try and stay out of the picture. Keep off the stage if you can. But if you can’t…..

You’ll know pull when an artist has a show and draws a half dozen people from their gym.

A gym and a gallery seem polar opposites. To the untutored one is full of meatheads, the other full of pretension.

Call it a comfort zone, but most people don’t migrate between art and weight training. If they do, one is stronger than the other.

Hans Schiebold knows strength. It shows in both places.

At the end of your artist review, say something encouraging, something to pump up your readers.

For example, “The power of a Schiebold painting is in the fractured multi-diminsionality he creates in nature and the built environment. He shows a place through a shared memory you didn’t know existed until now.”

And he shares it with you. Only you.

That’s what makes art, art; the part the speaks directly to you.