Details and Staying Honest
featuring Simon Kogan
Detail is a very painful place in an artist’s education, because we are, as humans eye is designed, meant to see crisp detail. We are like an over-sharpened tool. We see extra sharp at whatever we are looking at or in focus at a particular moment. Many times, we miss everything else. Because of that, we pay too much attention to details and they become more of a sickness of the work rather than a successful decoration. From Simon’s point of view, detail is a matter of necessity, not a matter of it being there. The two sculptures below are great examples.
In the portraiture of Faulkner, on the right, his outfit and dressing were done how a Faulkner would have looked. Because of that, it had to be very detailed and specific to the timing and description of what and how things would be back then.
On the left, “Abraham”, the clothe and what he would wear did not make a huge difference. It was more about the mountain of the man and power rather than the details. They both show a different delivery and level of importance to detail.
Fundamentals take a long time to collect and learn and use in order for them to become yours. Simon encourages people to use the base that his TAAO course provides them while still staying true and honest to themselves. He wants his students to learn to appreciate and see what they can execute themselves. Simon is much more concerned about a student's personality than their technical side. When students come to Simon with their desire to do something, he can guide them in their own development.
“Detail is a matter of necessity, not a matter of it being there.”
Detail is a matter of necessity, and so is basic knowledge. In Simon’s course, he shares his approach for students to then use with their own personal touch. The knowledge is all available, but how and what you do with it is a matter of personality. This is what Simon teaches his students. If you are working in this direction, without being concerned about others’ opinions, it provides you with honesty. All the continuous work is driven in the direction of honesty to yourself, and this is something that goes unmatched.
Simon’s passion and encouragement are readily available to you through his course, “Figuratively Speaking” or his video downloads.
Click below to join Simon for his next open enrollment or his video download package:
To watch and listen to Simon and Gabor on the topic of Details, watch their video here.