Consistency and quality in Art vs Style in the Creative Mind
I have a lot on my mind as I am writing this blog post. I read the following post on a site aimed at helping photographers sell their photos on line and it really struck a raw nerve in me.
“Define your niche
Every successful photographer has a consistent style or theme that runs through their work. Whether your thing is travel, fashion, cityscapes, nature, food, etc., consistency is key.
People follow other people online to see more of whatever it is that interested them in the first place. People unfollow other people when those expectations aren’t met.”
I had been thinking about this subject for several days now, but when I read this comment it was my impetus to write. To begin with, I want to qualify this entire post as my having asperger’s syndrome. I am not neurotypical. My mind is not limited by the things that limit most peoples minds, especially when it comes to creativity.
The problem is, I really do not have a niche. I do not have one single style, be it in art or photography. There is not one area of art that I exclusively work in, nor is there is one thing that I exclusively photograph. In art I primarily am an Orthodox Iconographer. I have been working in iconography for 23 years, have taught a student for 7 years and even written an instructional text on iconography. However, that does not mean that I do not work in other areas of art as well. I love to do abstract and expressionist paintings and have begun doing abstract drawings. I do cartoons and draw people as well, though I would not call my drawings of people “portraits”. The quality of my work remains the same, no matter what area of art I work in. The same is true for my photography. I primarily work in portraiture. I love photographing people and events. However, this does not stop me from photographing the sunrise over the beach every time that I go to the beach, or stop me from photographing motorcycles and cars. Further, in my photography of people and events there are times when a photograph requires one style, whereas there are times when a photograph requires another style. It is up to the artist and the client to determine what style is required or would look best based on the context of the situation. Again, no matter what I photograph, the quality remains the same.
To me, consistency and quality are the same thing, and are not at all related to style. Whereas the writer of the post which I quoted defines consistency as means you focus on one area and style alone in your work and people know what kind of work to expect from you based on your style, my definition of consistency means the quality of your work remains the same, no matter what area you work in and no matter what style that work is done in. Therefore no matter what work you do, people know what level of quality to expect from you. These are two very different definitions and very different ways of viewing things.
Those who know me know that no matter what it is that I am working in at the time they can expect a high level of artistic skill and creativity that flows through everything that I do artistically. While I do have some accounts that are set up solely for photography or iconography, on my general accounts I tend to post enough of each subject in enough of a rotation that everyone viewing gets a sample of everything that I do. Even with my photography I tend to post enough of a variety that people understand no matter what I am photographing, they can expect a creative and high quality outcome. The same is true with iconography. I have a preferred style of iconography that I prefer to work in, but this does not limit me from changing my style when the need arises. And when it comes to non-iconographic art, style is a wide open subject for me.
Do I have a consistent style or theme? No, actually I do not! Do I have a consistent quality and artistic skill that permeates everything that I do artistically? Of course I do! Do not judge me because I do not neatly fit into your narrow neuro-typcial view of the world.
