Modeling- Art or not?

Others, i.e. posterity, public acclaim or general assessment, may decide whether what we do is 'art' -- but it's a silly and rather grandiose judgment to attempt to make for one's own work.

I have certainly seen others' models that I would have no hesitation in qualifying as art of the highest order, however. The skills, vision and inspiration demonstrated therein are undeniable.

Our local Institute of Art has two ship models on display.  I think that validates it as art.

By the way, I'd say that model ships are the oldest genre of art.  While there may have been a few models of carts and chariots, model ship building has a history from ancient times through the middle ages and into the modern period.  Sailers captured at war spent their dreary days working on ship modelers.  Others actually on board spent spare time creating models. Next came model carraige building.  The famous Fisher Craftsmen's Guild had a carraige catagory as well as an automobile category (how many of you old timers entered one or the other category?).

I think any time you deviate from how the instructions are telling you to finish things, you are applying your own artistic spin to it.  But, at the same time, what we do is very technical and precise, which isn't really art.  So, I guess it all depends on how other people view the finished product.

Maybe "artful".

Bill

Is a paint by number kit art? To my parents and grandparents they were. Whould it hang in an art museum? Of course not.

I guess it's art to those who choose to say it's so. A lot of people think a beautiful car or bike is art. I think they are transportation and am not swayed at all by there apperance (OK, not swayed by most of them). Those same people see a plane as transportation, I see them as art!

I see our hobby as three maybe four in one. Collecting, art to some, building, again art to some, and painting, art to most.

Bottom line, I see it as art, most definitely. The guy next to me, maybe not. 

In my humble opinion, if it evokes an emotion or tells a story, it's art. Kind of falls into that "you'll know it when you see it" category. That's why some people can look at a paint splat on canvas as "art" and others see nothing but a paint splatter. 

The same question comes up in taxidermy. Is a deer head on the wall a work of art? Eh. How about a diorama with mounted animals? To me, that's art. There's movement, a story, etc.

I also think there is a difference between technical skill and art. We've all seen people who can make a copy of a photograph with a pencil or pen and ink. To me, that's just a copy. I admire their skill but to me it's not art.

As far as modeling, some kits I just build, trying to make a faithful reproduction of the real thing. Others, I've researched the pilot, where they fought, what they did after the war (if they lived), and so on. That gives me a connection to the model, it becomes art. But someone else looking at it just sees a little plastic toy. 

I guess my high school art teacher had it right when asked if something was "art". She would reply, "Well, what do you see?"

In the broad sense modeling is art,just like a cabinet maker, architect,room designer,carpenter,landscaper,can be described as an artist when it comes to their work.

Is an automobile "art"?  Is a real airplane "art"?

Arguably cookie cutter mass-produced ones may not be considered as such.

But what about when they were concepts?  Or modified into one of a kind or true limited versions?

Art, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.

I think a valid argument can be made for a lot of things being considered art.

Frankly, I think the term 'art' is rather nebulous in it's understanding. As modeling, whether in kit form or scratchbuilding, requires levels of knowledge, precision, passion, and persistance, and is a learned achievement; whether it's an 'art' I can't say, but it most definately an 'artform', and many builds are most definately 'works of art'.

Not mine of course, but some.

Then there comes the differences between being a 'modeler' or are you just an 'assembler'.   The latter, often considered derogative, has been around for years. 

Hello,TJS!!

       Boy, Talk about Hitting the Hornet's Nest. This is a question I have been asked more years than I care to count. Now that said. I consider any " Thing" created as an observable object and adhering to certain rules ART!

        These rules are simple. They Must

        Catch My EYE

        Speak to my MIND 

        Resonate in my HEART

        And make me desire to create AS WELL. To do this, ANY model can be art. It has to Fire within me a desire to create as well. A good model of any type,Well done and well thought out, Is to me another person's way to create art at hand. So Art it is!

I do believe what we do is art. Even if all you do is follow the directions exactly as writen, you have created something that is meant to be admired. It definitely goes deeper than that. One could argue that the process itself is the art.

This is how I see it. The end result is nice, but it just sits there on a shelf. While we are building, painting, weathering, etc. we are actively engaged with the parts, instructions, paints, tools, glue. I can only imagine this is as close as we can get to what an "artist" is feeling when they are painting or scuplting or making whatever they are calling "art".

Hello!

I have also thought about it for a long time... I believe models have to go a similar route of public perception that the photography went through - for a long time photograpers were not seen as artists because they merely copied the reality. It took years for the broad audience to finaly understand that a photo is complicated and individual enough that two photograhies of exactly the same thing can be very different and even artful. Of course there are also photos that are plainly poor.

It's very much like this with models - two people trying to model exactly the same object end up with very different things and there are of course poor models, too.

The fact that we start with "kits" doesn't help our public image here...

But it's a bit like saying to a painter - you buy the same paints and the same canvas all the time, I bet your pictures look exactly the same all the time :-)

The bottom line is: When are we going to see insane sums of money spent on built up kits and dios? Only this can make some people understand...

Thanks for reading and have a nice day

Paweł

modelcrazy

Is a paint by number kit art? To my parents and grandparents they were. Whould it hang in an art museum? Of course not.

....

 

I have done acryic painting from a blank canvas, as well as paint-by number.  However, with the latter I never felt constrained to stay within the lines. I would fade colors together to eliminate the pixelation.  There are a lot of amateur painters in this country, and 99% of them will never have a work that hangs in a museum.  But it is still art.  So are the cave paintings in France.

Although not a term used in the UK but I 'majored' in Art at school, so model making if you use your own viewi imagination when building/modifying kits yes definitely ART!

With examples abounding of what others consider to be art that I personally find to be distasteful or worthless, I'll go ahead and state that what we do with these boxes of styrene/resin/metal is most certainly an artistic expression.

Aggieman

With examples abounding of what others consider to be art that I personally find to be distasteful or worthless, I'll go ahead and state that what we do with these boxes of styrene/resin/metal is most certainly an artistic expression.

Yep - I'm with you there, all right.  My understanding of Art is that it somehow enriches one's life, and some of the beautiful works I have seen here certainly do that, either through simple visual gratification, or through inspiration to do better oneself.

  A few years ago, in the centre of my home town, there was a bloke wrapped from head to toe in bubble wrap, rolling around on the ground.  When someone asked what he was doing, he said it was Art, and that he had a grant - i.e. money - from the City Council to provide a number of "performances" in the next week or so.  I thought "no, it's public money being wasted on a talentless layabout, who is enriching no one's life but his own, and who is laughing all the way to the bank".  If he had displayed something he'd created or produced, that would have had some value.

MR TOM SCHRY

This past year I've become an avid listener to the various modeling podcasts and enjoy them immensely.  One topic that comes up frequently is this, "Is what we do to these plastic/resin/paper kits a form of art? " I googled the defintion of art and the short version is this,"The various branches of creative activity, such as painting,music,literature, and dance."  What do you guys think?  I say "yes" because one is adding their uniquely own touch to a basic kit of parts and turning it into a visual piece that satisfies their creative "juices".  Building and painting schemes can be followed exactly or a builder can go off on their own tangent.  As far as scratch builders go, that is art takened to a higher level.  As long as one person is "touched" by this finished piece, be it the creator or a spectator, it is art.  I think back to those Shep Paine pamphlets in the old Mongram kits and then the pictures of his shadow box builds in his various books and those moved me so much as a youth.  In my opinion, no one can argue that those were not art.

Yes, model building is an art form. The canvas is the kit pieces.

Everyone in this thread can assemble the same exact model kit, but no two of these kits will look exactly alike, unless a few of use just build them straight OOB without paint.

All of us will build the kit to our skill level. Those that can build better than others (yes, we all know some people build better or worse than we do) will have a better looking kit.

Then comes the paint. Like a blank canvas, all of us trying to paint the same bowl of fruit, some of us will do better than others.

If the model kit appeals to me, I will put more care into the painting. Some paint schemes are easier to paint that others.

Then once the paint scheme is applied, some people want their kit to look factory fresh. Others want theirs to look weathered and beat. Perhaps others have actually crewed the subject and want their kit to look like their old ride.

Then there is the skill. Two of us might paint the kit in the same scheme, but you paint a whole lot better than I do.

I don't realy care what you call it.  I just build and paint and  lighty weather the model. I usually put on some gear.   It is for fun, for me.  I used to be more thoughtful about the discusion many years ago, not so much any more.  This not new.  

Hello!

I think this nice discussion we have here stems from misunderstanding or even hostility some modellers (like me) sometimes have to live with.

Like sometimes I feel like talking about my hobby and (seldom) I get a "how come you play with toys". Not that I care a lot, but nobody would give me that if I said "photography" or "painting" or "sculpture". Worse still in the family - if you don't choose your partner right that person will give you hard time about, for example - wasting your time playing with toys instead cleaning up the floor or washing up dishes - although to be fair, painters and sculptors have exactly the same problem here - unless they can sell their toys for a million dollars of course - but in that case they probably have to invest in a good divorce lawyer anyhow...

So - modelling is valuable, no question about it, we wouldn't do it otherwise. But sometimes you hit a bad luck and feel like having to justify it, which you shouldn't have to.

Thanks for reading and have a nice day

Paweł