Замечательно, весьма забавная штука…

as u know, i LOVE ur ‘art’. it doesnt necessarily have connections with me (some of ur art really connects with me and reminded me of my darker days, but thats how good an artist u are, that u can bring out emotions in people), and i love how u can execute what u have in ur mind.
i do believe that some people criticise to make themselves feel better, some people criticise because they dont have better things to say because they are negative people, and some people criticise with good intention but dont necessarily pick the right words. i’ve been guilty of all the above. as they say, its not what u say, its how u say it. but to me the fact that they put an effort to say those things to u means that u stirred something in them that they felt compelled to comment/criticise/praise.
all i can say to u brooke, ur a great artist, i fell in love with ur work straight away, please keep doing what do, dont worry too much about the negative feedback (of course u can take it as development if u wish), from what i can c on flickr and facebook u have more fans than ‘art curators’! lol. flickr can be a great place, but it can also be a hole, i think the anonymosity that comes with the internet world gets to some people in a wrong way.
i will repeat michael above: u make my world a better place :)! love ya intelligent talented girl!!

I never offer much to your work other than a simple “great job,” simply because there is not much that I could add to your vision. To offer critique, I would feel the that there would have to be something you were trying for that I might know a way for you to achieve better; so far, you’ve done fine on your own. This person seems to just be challenging what you choose to photograph. Whatever his motive, just remind yourself that he is a small minority.

Thank you for sharing your art. It makes my world a better place.

I think there’s a lot to be said on this topic.

Im a firm believer that art is a personal experience, not just for the artist, but for the viewer. The artist uses whatever tools they have to give the viewer everything they need to formulate a meaning, a message, a feeling, etc. The viewer brings in their own history, ideals, and morals and comes out after, either connecting or not to the work.

Thats my view of truly successful artwork. Either someone connects or they don’t. You can analyze all day about how so and so posed so and so and painted in this style and used this technique to get this effect….but the entire purpose of art, at the end of it, is to forge a connection between artist and viewer. If you succeed in that, I firmly believe technique goes straight out the window. That may seem extreme and narrow minded, but honestly, if an image is successful, really really successful, you don’t care about the other stuff, just how its affecting you.

Thats not to suggest art does not need critique and criticism. No. Without it, art would never innovate. Im not condoning their behavior, but without people like this that skip criticism of the art and aim straight for the artist themselves, well, we would never question ourselves and our desire to make art and what goes into that process. For every one of those types of people, there are 99 who are in love with what you do and feel when they look at your work. We focus on the bad for some reason….everyone does.

Flickr is flickr…take anything and everything you hear somewhere there with a discerning measure. Go out and talk to real people that will give you real feedback. Thats where you grow.

Keep up the good work and the thought provoking writing.

Spencer H.