Art is so… fancy. Art tries hard to be cool. Art is bedfellows with intellectuals, critics and scholars. Art dresses in clothes that it feels it should be wearing, because that’s what’s in Vogue. Sketching, on the other hand, wears shorts. Sketching drives a ‘67 Ford Bronco and hides a bag of weeks-old Milano cookies in the glove compartment. Sketching is flippant, carefree and Summery.
No one pays much attention to the sketchers. It’s more like a means to an end. In the early days, sketches laid the foundation of bigger works. The da Vinci sketches, for example, aren’t so much art as a peek into the working mind of an artist. An artist meant for bigger things. The sketches, beautiful sure, but not a destination so much as the twiddling, tinkering, pondering train ride to Gettysburg.
The truth is, it’s all in the sketches. Sketches are the ideas. And Baldessari, Burden, Keinholz and Warhol destroyed the notion that art necessitates execution.With that being the case, I can see an argument for redefining the role of sketches. Or at least our perception of it. The materials and techniques need to advance, though. Watercolors, guache and other lame sounding materials need to give way to more innovative techniques. This site might be paving that way: http://www.urbansketchers.com/ These guys have got the goods, and they seem organized. Pass the cookies, fellas.