I’ve been thinking a lot lately about slow art — art that takes time to develop and grow. It seems we’re in a time where “fast food art” is the norm, and art that is slow to develop — that is layered and nuanced isn’t.
We’re in a “I want it now!” culture with all of our modern conveniences and instant everything — text messages, social media, fast food, instant delivery, and so much more, it seems that we want the same from our art. We see our favorite artists posting new art everyday, and we get the feeling that art is this thing that can be whipped together and created in a flash. Fast Food Art. We see folks creating works right in front of our eyes everyday on social media, and it can seem like it takes no time at all. And we place those expectations on ourselves — the expectations that we need to produce art at a fast and furious pace and get it out there for the world to see. We don’t seem to realize that either it’s all an illusion, like time-lapse trickery, or the creators have a process or a gimmick or just plain years of practice to pull something off in a flash.
I can’t help think of Bob Ross painting an entire painting in less than 30 minutes, and how I sat mesmerized and astonished by the feat. But his on-air paintings never had the depth of the examples he made in his own time as inspiration for the show — some of which I got to view a few years ago. Though his process seemed spontaneous, he meticulously planned out each painting so that it could be completed in the allotted time.
Now I’m not bashing on Bob Ross or those Instagram artists. I even have my own YouTube series that I call Mixed Media Monday where I often crank out small mixed media pieces in less than 30 minutes, but I feel like these pieces are often lacking depth and richness. There is something to be said about slow art — art that takes time to build and develop.
Often this is work that is layered, or uses techniques that are slow and methodical, but all too often these pieces never make it into our social media worlds or they are translated into consumer pleasing posts and videos in a way that makes them seem much quicker and spontaneous than they really are. Every once in a while though, I need to remind myself that art doesn’t have to happen in a flash — that it is often a slow build or a gradual accumulation of small actions — that it is ok for artwork to take hours, days, weeks, and even months to develop and mature. I’m sure that you sometimes need that reminder as well as you create and make and struggle with something taking a long time.
Yes, we get more efficient over time as we learn and master our skills, but speed doesn’t need to be the goal. Things are not always better when they are done as quickly as they can be done. Something is often sacrificed.
I encourage you to ignore the voice that is telling you that quicker is better and to take some time and make some slow art.