Somebody in the Globe features department woke up on the wrong side of the bed

All children are above average.

Kenmore / Fenway is filled with tens of thousands of children who grew up being told they are artists. You know what? None of them is Picasso or at least Adele, and 99% of them are waiters and babysitters.

http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=irule

Why do we need to import an Australian to do this work when there are hundreds of under-employed American art critics just waiting to take our precious snowflakes down a peg?

I heard the Globe was doing as well as it used to. They suck more now than they sucked before.

?

with one caveat: there is a lot of web-comic style art that requires more narrative talent than artistic talent. Making a point and telling a story with simple line drawings isn't traditionally artistic, nor is using Photoshop to make snarky stickers or parody images, but they still are art that tells a story and makes a point. Much like cave paintings.

That said, the arts are very fun and rewarding, but only the top 1% of people actually achieve the level of talent and skill to excel in their field professionally. There are lots of people who are sort-of talented kicking around community theatres and orchestras, teaching art or music lessons, making and selling art locally, taking beautiful pictures and posting them on blogs for minimal advertising revenue. Those people should keep right on doing so, and also keep their day job.

I don't think it's snarky: it's realistic. Keeping perspective of how your talents rank against others is how you both choose to get better and realize when, perhaps, you need to choose a different path for income.

I have always liked Smee's articles since he can describe precisely why an artwork is good and he is enthusiastic about many schools of art, not just only classical or only modern.

Once you get past the click-bait headline, this article is a well-written rebuttal of the idea that the way to great art is to become a child, as well as a show of respect for the hard work involved in producing great art.

Also, for those who are taking offense on behalf of their children, he did not say that a child could never be an artist, just that a kid is not an artist in his or her childish state.

For those of you that are sick of paying for the crap the globe spews everyday, but still want to read the few useful articles it puts out, I would highly recommend Google Chrome Incognito.

who loves "black #23" in the national gallery when it's just a plain black canvas.

how do you define art? is what you see in museums and galleries? does history tell you what is art, what the artists' intentions were?

and/or - do you see art in many places/parts of life? do you search for and hunger for unknown/underappreciated artists & works ignored by history? do you enjoy street art? do you enjoy children's art?

these kinds of questions are what turn some people off to art, and turn some people on to it.

you do you. nobody can tell you how to approach art. they can try, and some of them will explain it in ways that click with you. others won't click at all, and they might even express their opinions in snarky ways. but art is for you, and it's up to you. be confident in that.