I've worked on quite a few diverse projects. Some of them have been excruciatingly tedious, but I have generally tried to take pride in said projects, knowing very well I shall be judged by them. Largely though, these projects, whatever their medium may be, can be split into two groups, ‘art’ (as in projects that I conceptualize and execute, at the risk of starvation, because they’re awesome) and ‘not art’ (as in projects that are commissioned, of a commercial nature, and I do because somebody told me to). Now the commissioned projects are often in the realm of design, which is indubitably a collaborative process. There’s a brief of some sort provided by the client, depending on the size of the project, there’s other collaborators, in other words, its not mine.
Art is a different beast, it can be collaborative, but generally its an autonomous process, intensely personal, and contains a little bit of oneself. There's a sympathetic magic to it (metaphorically speaking of course), and to see it chopped up and misappropriated into a context not intended for it, is an intensely disturbing experience, gut-wrenching even. Somebody providing critical feedback, advice on how it may be improved, perhaps, is weighed in the balance, then either utilized or unceremoniously chucked over board. While its not comfortable, it is appreciated, because I care about the work, and I want it to be the best it can be, while keeping true to its nature and my vision (which of course is the issue, if you wish to see your vision executed, you have two options, make your own art, or pay me). So basically, its an issue of balance, you can’t really know better than me when it comes to my artwork, because its my artwork, but you could have some very valid observations.
So, having said this, if you take an artwork of mine, and manipulate, chop up, appropriate or montage it in any way whatsoever. Well, these are my spawn, and I will defend my brood like a carrion-breathed, fire-breathing demon from the pits of hell, and quite simply bite your head off. The fact that you meant well will only be taken into account after the fact, as I guiltily observe the bloodied corpse, and wonder if perhaps there was a more productive manner of communicating my hurt and outrage.
So to recap: say what you like, just don’t touch. I’m not really to bothered when it comes to commercial things, I have already resigned myself to their mutilation. It has become part of the challenge of their creation. But my personal work is exactly that, personal. It has little to do with legalities of copyright (though of course this is very important) but rather to do with what the work is, and what it means. If there's a functionality problem, or you feel the text is unreadable, then please let me know, I will love you for it (sort of). It is worth noting that the gallery wall/website is not the work, merely a vehicle to display said work, fixing glitches etc. in the vehicle is not bothersome.
And so, it was pointed out to me that my grammar has at times been shall we say, lacking? Well upon checking some of my hastily dashed off text, I'd have to say that not only were there a few garishly glaring grammatical and spelling issues, but some of my sentences trailed off into complete and utter gibberish. So yeah, all in all that was a pretty delicately put criticism. And it came via Oatmeal comics, which is really the best way to criticize someone EVER! I also don’t have access to all the browsers and platforms out there, and so input on functionality and visibility are useful.
Signed
Grammatical A-hole dolphin killer :D
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