Outliers: The Matthew Effect

In our society we tend to believe that successful people earned the success through hard work. Malcolm Gladwell makes the argument that there are many other factors that are often significant. One place this can be easily seen is in sports. In Canada there is an uneven distribution of birth months among professional hockey players. When it comes to the best of the best, most hockey players are born in the first half of the year and the last quarter of the year is very poorly represented. The conclusion has been drawn that the phenomenon is connected to the age cutoff date for junior hockey players (Jan. 1st). Gladwell says that kids born early in the year are often significantly more physically mature than those born later. The eleven month difference between January and December is a big deal when your ten. The mature kids get recognition. They are invited to play in advanced leagues where they have more access to hockey rinks and better coaching. Then they really do improve until they are the best.

This same pattern repeats in other sports in other places. It repeats in education. Students are more likely to get into college if they were older in their school year. I am one of the many people who just sort of thought that the difference evens out over time. I see now that people are being influenced to a great degree by the structures we impose on them. Is it possible that some of the greatest artistic talents of our schools are lost because they haven't had the opportunities that others enjoy? How does the hierarchical organization of art classes affect who ends up excelling? What opportunities and attention do I give to students that further entrench perceived differences in skill level?

Wasteland

Photo by Vik Muniz

Katy and I just watched the documentary Wasteland. It's about a contemporary artist named Vik Muniz who is famous for recreating famous paintings out of unusual materials. He might use green army men or chocolate syrup to get his values and then photograph the installation from above.

The documentary follows Muniz as he engages in a new series of work. He travels back to Brazil and goes to the largest landfill in the world. At this landfill people called "pickers" search through piles of refuse for recyclable materials which they collect in barrels that they drag behind them. These are the honorable poor- those with no better employment who are unwilling to enter into a life of prostitution or drug trafficking.

The artist gets to know a few of these pickers. It was eye opening to see their lives and the pride they take in work many would consider lowly. Eventually he orchestrates the creation of huge portraits of the pickers themselves (see above). The pickers place their recyclable materials in patterns on the floor of a warehouse to create the images. Muniz photographs them with a large format camera from above.

In the end he is able to sell the work around the world and give some $250,000 back to the pickers. Contemporary art is often about much more than pigments smeared on canvas. Art addresses social issues, confronts problems, educates viewers and changes individual's worlds.

Bonuses Make You Worse

I'm currently reading Drive by Daniel Pink. Citing many studies, Pink makes the argument that rewarding achievement doesn't always improve achievement. He says it only works when tasks are simple and straightforward. If a task is creative or requires a high level of problem solving then performance can be reduced. Paying a bonus for quickly digging a hole will help. Paying a bonus for quickly painting a painting will hinder.

This interests me as an art teacher. What am I supposed to do with grades? Surely I can grade mechanical skill and technical merit (You colored in the lines!). But the creative side of art that is its true value may be something that shouldn't be assessed. That's not surprising to me since my grading rubrics never include "creativity" as a category. The problem is that students focus too much on shading in the lines since that's what will get them an 'A' and that's why they came to school this morning anyway. Huh.

Installation Views

My wife Katy helped me with the installation which took one long day. The strings are held away from the wall by 1/8th inch bar stock. At a couple of points it projects 4 feet away from the wall. The sound piece is being played continuously. Overall I feel it is a successful piece.

Gift Economy at Gallery East

It's up! The show runs through December 10th.
The artist reception will be December 4th from 6:30-8:00.

Gallery East
College of Eastern Utah
451 East 400 North
Price, UT 84501

More Works in Progress

So one of my major goals here is to create an art object that is aesthetically successful. I'd love some feedback on that. And feel free to give criticism here.

Sarah's Questions

Sarah had some good questions. She said, "Help me out with additional explanations for "topographical imagery, networked lines, textile designs, and language." I enjoy abstraction a lot more when I know more about what it means. (is that a contradiction?)
I'm also not clear on what exactly you mean by a fictional culture. I feel like I have a good grasp on what culture is but I'm not sure not how you would create one through a painting.
Hopefully I'm not bringing down the group here--don't cast your pearls before swine or anything--its just that my right brain needs developing."

I'm guessing she isn't the only one confused here. I have no pearls and know no swine, but here you go:

Topographical imagery: One of the major compositional components of each painting is a map. Sometimes it looks more like explosions when it's finished, but it starts as a map.

Networked lines: Looking closed you'll see lot's of straight lines that all come together at random points. These are symbolic of an economic system where people are exchanging goods as gifts. The lines are the exchanges, the points are the people.

Textile designs: They started out as patterns a culture might use in textile. Now they're very organic, but the stripes of wavy lines are what I'm talking about.

Language: The numbers are my culture's language.

Each of these elements is part of the "fictional culture" I referred to. It isn't terribly detailed or fleshed out. In the end, when all of the paintings, string installation, and audio piece are put together it should create a unique experience. I'm hoping that that experience feels other-worldly or slightly displaced from reality. I'm going for that state of consciousness you have when you're lost in a good book.