Does art have to be perfect? If so, what makes a piece of art perfect? Trying to attain perfection adds a lot of pressure to the creative process. But the good news is that art doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful. On the contrary. Artists should embrace mistakes and create lots of ‘imperfect’ artwork. Astonished? Read on to learn more!
Perfection is something that we humans have been attempting to attain for centuries. The world’s greatest thinkers, philosophers, scientists, and of course artists, have been striving for perfection.
They’ve been looking for the perfect concept, the perfect philosophy, the perfect scientific theory, and the perfect artwork.
In fact, we all wish to reach perfection in our professional and personal lives. We want to get it right 100 percent, not 50% only and not 99 percent either.
As artists, whether newbies or seasoned creators, we aim to produce the perfect artwork with each piece we make. Does that sound familiar to you? It surely sounds familiar to me…
But what makes a piece of art perfect? And does art have to be perfect at all? This is what we are going to talk about in today’s blog post!
Does artwork have to be beautiful?
Every artist will come to a point where they need to learn the principles and elements of design, such as color theory, composition, balance, contrast, etc. Applying these principles to your art will help you make more appealing pieces.
Good composition is essential to create aesthetically pleasing artwork. If you know the rules of good composition in art, it will be much easier for you to put together intriguing works.
To help you learn these rules, I’ve prepared a little eGuide for you that teaches you all the secrets to achieve outstanding artistic compositions. Simply head over to the Freebie Library and download the ‘Secrets of Good Composition in Art‘ for free!
However, does using these principles make your artwork automatically beautiful – or even ‘perfect’? Not necessarily.
Creating visual art is like a language, a language of storytelling. Apart from the compositional component, there are many more aspects that make up an artwork, such as the subject matter, the medium or mediums used, the technique applied, and perhaps the size of the piece.
All these factors influence how the artwork is perceived by the viewer.
At the end of the day, beauty is always in the eye of the beholder. It largely depends on the individual’s taste in art and their personality whether they consider an artwork beautiful or not.
That means artwork per se doesn’t have to be beautiful and it cannot be beautiful to everybody because beauty is subjective.
So don’t worry too much about whether your art is ‘beautiful’. You will never be able to please everyone. Just create the art that you love and that you feel is beautiful!
What makes a piece of art perfect?
Now that we’ve discussed beauty, let’s talk about perfection.
If we are looking at an artwork, how do we know what makes the piece of art perfect?
Of course, we could try to force standard measurements onto the artwork. We could analyze the composition of the piece. Did the artist apply the golden ratio or not? What about the colors? Did the artist adhere to common color theory?
How long did the artist take to complete the artwork? What is the skill level of the artist? What is their reputation? What tools and techniques did the artist use to create the work?
We could also ask an art critic to tell us their opinion about the artwork. But in the end, it is just that – their opinion.
Then, we could use our own intuition and judgment. How do we as the viewer feel about the artwork? How does it make us feel? Can we relate to the story the artist tells through the artwork? Is it meaningful art to us?
These are the factors that determine the intrinsic value of a piece of art. The intrinsic value describes how the viewer feels about the piece personally. But it cannot provide an objective standard for perfection.
Truth be told, there is no possibility to measure perfection in art. Because there is no perfect art. Art cannot be perfect and does not have to be perfect.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and perfection is just an illusion.
Perfection is a mental concept that we humans have built up in our minds but that doesn’t exist in reality. Perfection is subjective, too. It’s based on each individual’s experience and expectations.
Have no fear of perfection, you'll never reach it.
Feel like reading more quotes about that art doesn't have to be perfect?
Nothing. Is. Perfect.
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Why art doesn't have to be perfect
In fact, we humans actually like imperfection more than perfection. What?! Yes, we all try to attain perfection, but we will never be perfect. We’ve never experienced perfection, but we all know what imperfection feels like.
Deep down we all crave imperfection. How do you feel when your favorite model on Instagram posts a picture with no make-up on and you notice the tiny flaws on her skin? I’m sure she becomes way more relatable to you!
In reality, we actually love each other for our imperfections. So if there were a perfect piece of art, would you even like it? An imperfect artwork is most likely more relatable than a perfect one. It’s more vibrant and more real, and it makes us feel more than a faultless but rigid work.
I hope that takes a load off your mind. You can relax and take a deep breath. Your art doesn’t have to be perfect in order for other people to like it!
Here are some more misconceptions about art having to be perfect:
- Perfect art depends on the advanced skill level of the artist.
- Perfect art can only be created by an artist who is acclaimed in the art world.
- Perfect art requires an exceptional amount of time and effort in the creative process.
- Perfect art requires the use of the best and most expensive materials and tools.
- Perfect art is absolutely symmetrical in form and proportion.
- Perfect art represents reality.
- Perfect art is something special that no one has ever created before.
- Perfect art needs to be achieved with every piece you create.
You Can Be. Amazing.
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Why artists should embrace mistakes
Since there is no perfect art, it is best not to aim for perfection when you are creating. Instead, artists should embrace their mistakes!
What a statement, you might think. I shall embrace my mistakes?! Habitually, we all want to avoid mistakes, come hell or high water. But if you are attempting to make the perfect piece of art, you either work with fear-based thinking, or you don’t leave your comfort zone and prevent yourself from making progress.
Staying there where you are feeling comfortable is a killer to your artistic growth. If you don’t dare to challenge yourself, to try out new techniques and realize new visions, you cannot reach a higher level with your art.
You preserve the illusion that your art is ‘perfect’ – or at least ‘near perfect’ – by doing the same thing over and over again. But you actually don’t evolve your skills and creativity. That is a huge mistake, because artists get better by sharpening their skills and acquiring new ones.
On the other hand, if you are scared of not reaching perfection, you might feel paralyzed and blocked. As a result, you might discard artmaking altogether, or not create as much art as you could – and should, in order to become better.
I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes then you are making new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing the world. You’re doing things you’ve never done before, and more importantly, you’re doing something.
Stay inspired all year long!
Let me tell you a true story that David Bayles and Ted Orland describe in their book Art & Fear.
To find out how perfectionism affects artmaking, a ceramics teacher divided his class into two groups. The first group, he said, would be solely graded on the quantity of the work they produced. By the end of the term, the teacher would bring his scales and simply way the pots, rating fifty pounds an “A”, forty pounds a “B”, and so on.
The second group, on the other hand, was graded on the quality of their work. They had to produce only one pot to get an “A”, but the pot had to be ‘perfect’. Interestingly, the best-quality pots were all produced by first group that was graded for quantity.
How is that possible? Well, the quantity group was enthusiastically creating one pot after the other, learning from their mistakes in the process. The quality group, however, spent most of their time pondering how to make their work perfect, while producing hardly any pots at all.
The authors conclude that the overwhelming portion of each artist’s work only serves the purpose to learn to make better art, and eventually create ‘the pieces that soar’.
Forget about the notion that art has to be perfect
The story above shows once more that instead of trying to make your art perfect art, it is better to focus on making art.
Art is human and, just like we humans, it will always be flawed. If you don’t challenge your fear of perfection and focus on building creative confidence, you will sooner or later lose your zest for artmaking.
Personally speaking, I was chasing perfection, too. I used to approach each new piece with the mindset that this one must be perfect. Of course, that pursuit was destined to fail.
Even though I realized the absurdity of my mindset, it still took me some time and effort to let go of it. Creating art solely for myself and using it as a medium of self-expression has helped me a lot to change that way of thinking.
I’ve learned that art, whether made as a hobby or a profession, doesn’t have to be perfect. I don’t need to please anyone with my art. All that matters is that I enjoy what I’m doing. That’s an incredibly liberating realization that frees up so much space for your creativity and artistic growth – and I wish that for you, too!
To wrap this post up, let me give you the original meaning of perfection, which goes way back to Aristotle.
In ancient Greek, perfection wasn’t associated with extraordinary standards that require superhuman powers to attain. No. Aristotle defined perfection as follows:
- Something is complete, it contains all the needed parts.
- It is good, nothing could be done better.
- It attained its purpose.
The way Aristotle understood perfection implies that something is perfect when it fulfills its purpose and there’s nothing to add or remove.
That being said, your job as an artist is to create art that serves its purpose. If your art allows you to grow as a person and as an artist, to express what you want to express, and enjoy what you are doing, then it has fulfilled its purpose!
Your art is good when it cannot be done better. The artistic process is a journey, and with every piece you make, you are getting better.
Understanding perfection as we do it today – as something that doesn’t have any flaws – is a recipe for failure. Perfectionism keeps you from doing what you need to get the work done and make progress.
It is important to realize that perfection itself is a flawed concept. That’s why artists should embrace the mistakes and surprises that come along the way!
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I hope that this post helped you let go of the notion that your art has to be perfect. Please leave comments and questions below or reach out to me directly. I’d love to hear from you! Make sure to sign up for my email list below so you don’t miss out on new blog posts and other cool stuff. ♥
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