Fourteenth International Conference on the Arts in Society

Abstract

The social image of the artist has been constructed through a paradigm of success, decision-making capacity, and creative force. This stereotype is supported by the visualization of the creative process in documentaries about artists like The Mystery Picasso (Henri-Georges Clouzot) or about artists painting in moments of great intensity as the case of Jackson Pollock’s images. This construction, so detached from the true creative process full of doubts and failures, limits the resistance to the frustration of art students who begin their studies with the aspiration of great achievements in moments of inspiration. However, other art documentaries are rich in examples that approximate the true nature of creation by understanding the material with which artists work based on trial and error. The visualization and commentary of these examples are important to achieve adequate motivation when facing new and complex techniques that require a long training process and great involvement, such as painting. In my paper, I will comment some moments of audiovisual documents about artists working and failing: Rivers and Tides on the work of Andy Goldsworthy, directed by Thomas Riedelsheimer or El sol del membrillo on Antonio López, directed by Victor Erice.