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@@MrAmazingAwesomeness based on my mediocre googling skills: the average US art critic annually make about less than 1/4 of a doctor's, just over half as much than an average lawyer - and also over half as much than a hedge fund manager's LOWEST salary. Art critics do, however, make almost as much as a manager at McDonald's, it seems. Do correct me if I'm wrong though :)
@@patrickmcpartland1398 You have a bit of a literacy problem, so allow me to help you. The original commenter is not saying that Devon is not good enough for art school, or that he needs to go to art school. He's saying that part of going to school for art is critique, and this professional critic was more gracious than any art school teacher would ever have the time of day to be.
Great take D’Angelo. I think that Devon’s reaction shows his lack of experience in the art world. From the start at art school we’re prepared to be critiqued on every piece of work. Constantly RECEIVING criticism and GIVING our peers criticism in order to grow artistically and accept different perspectives with a cool head. Devon should definitely grow some tougher skin if he wants to be taken seriously by his peers. No artist is above critique.
@Naptural85 Agreed, 100%. Also lol I know this isn't the point of your comment but I'm a fan of yours and had no idea you went to art school! Makes sense though given the quality of your projects.
Yes, this!! I do think he will learn to have thicker skin. This is the exact type of reaction the most talented people in class would have in their first year art criticism segment. After a while you get used to it and appreciate it
EDIT: @notville_ edited their comment to copy and paste mine directly like some weirdo. no i dont know why. yes this is my comment i made hours after theirs, their comment said something different originally. Yeah in online spaces art critique is usually in poor taste considering random people on the internet might not have a lot of information and will give poor advice unsolicited, but in art school you learn how to give and receive critique. I only ever took art classes as electives but for museum studies we went to art galleries and exhibitions and had to critique those as well both as art installations and also the art in it at times. When you get big enough to get an exhibition, you are going to get the attention of art critics who are trained and skillful in their critique. In fact for many artists getting a prominent art critic to talk about their work seriously like this is a huge honor and a great learning opportunity and he raised a lot of good points Devon could use to develop his art more, and was actually very mild and kind. It was basically just "I want to see more variety and exploration from Devon" which is a lukewarm critique but Devon is acting like someone poured boiling water on him.
Haha this guy Devon came after me because my buddy and I talked a bit of shit about him on our podcast, maybe 10 minutes of a 2 hour show. Mostly about how the videos are obviously staged. He went off on us! Not only that but he made it a point to DM us both every time his career hit some new milestone and how he was dunking on us haters. We eventually both had to block him.
@@ughustI agree. Completely insecure to the point that I would feel sorry for him if he didn't act like a sociopath stalking people and hoping millions of people bully others on his behalf.
It's really wild how Devon keeps complaining about being gatekept, when getting a professional review in a traditional art publication is the opposite of gatekeeping, it's him being included in the same critical conversation as "traditional" artists.
Getting a critique by any publication with the kind of art world visibility that Artnet has would be life-changing, even if the article isn't super-glowing. Ben Davis acknowledged that he has talent, it just isn't the type of work he prefers. That's totally valid and if Devon would spend less time being a brat and more time taking some of the content of the review to heart, D'Angelo wouldn't have made this video and we wouldn't be having this discourse about this guy having an unwarranted fit.
Hes basically made it in life from humble beginnings. All that hardwork, clout and money yet the light criticism was just too much . Weird that he reacted this badly to it
as an art history major, i can tell you the critic was just such a nice guy, his critique was great and nice, most art critics are nasty when talking about non traditional artists like Devon (edit: for those confused i mean non traditional artist about the way he uses internet to promote his art. if i say he’s not a traditional artist, i mean it with having in mind the way art spheres work and the gatekeeping. he’s a very traditional artist when talking about his art work)
Lol same, I also studied art history and the dude was downright cordial. I have read some absolutely devastating critiques and this was nowhere near any of those. I think I’ve probably meaner in essays that I’ve written.
yeah i just channeled a crit session from _literally_ 20 years ago and started to go off, like his art is not his sketches, they're technically brilliant but utterly artless. d'angelo nailed it, he paints like an iphone takes photos. his art, or his "content" or whatever is entirely in the moment he creates with the drawing. just get a little portable photo printer and save everyone some time since you're already faking the moment and faking the entire like, "just trying to brighten someone's day" asp- ah goddammit i just did it again
Yes... I'm an art student, and it seems to be an international sport for art teachers to say the nastiest things about your works everytime. It's very discouraging. This critic was nice compared to this, I would feel better about my work if more teachers criticized my work like this. Like it was a great critic
He lost me when he decided to use his 50 million followers as free labor to harass someone he doesn't like. Never like this sort of cult personality who treats their fans like their free personal army.
Why is it always the influencers who make being a 'good person' and 'positive vibes' part of their character and platform end up being some of the most vile individuals? Like how can you sit there and be like 'KYS... anyways love and light guys, don't let the haters win. Oh and don't forget to send death threats to everyone who disagrees with me.' Like the cognitive dissonance to not see that as hypocritical is actually scary.
This is also the most toxic people in real life actually. It’s so important for them to be good on social media when they are absolute idiots in real life.
I’m in a college class that’s teaching us how to write criticism and this is THE nicest critique I have seen so far. I’ve never seen a critic that went out of their way to clarify “he seems like a nice guy.” Kudos to him for doing that but he did not have to! Rodrigo you are so lucky
you have classes in the US that teaches you how to write criticism? dang, that's good (/gen). What's it like? I have a journalism and communications degree and never learnt that except some basic negotiation skills.
@@SisselSasha I'm sure that they're referring to a college course or private school. Every truly useful class I've ever taken has been one I had to pay for (even community college costs about $1,500 per class not including books). Public schools here don't teach *basic* skills and it's caused so much damage to our society. Trust me our educational system is nothing to envy.
@@annjepsen1621 ooooh yeah totally I don’t envy the US public school system, especially before college. The only thing I kinda envied is the possibility to choose your classes depending on ability and also the fact that I feel creative stuff is more… accepted and encouraged in the US than in my country (France). And also the focus on extracurricular activities like clubs and sports! But at least one advantage is that even for private schools/colleges in the US there’s a lot of choice (given the fact that you have the money for it, which is another problem in itself) whereas here you have to go to Paris or really really good (expensive) schools (limited selection) thus have really good grades to get a degree different from your peers. Don’t get me wrong free college is great -even though some buildings are super old, decrepit, moldy and students shouldn’t be studying in such an environment- I’m glad so many people can get masters’ degrees; but then the problem is that there’s too many people with degrees but no corresponding job. Then degrees don’t mean anything anymore; but I mean it’s also an issue in the US but with debt included so we’re still faring better I suppose. Sorry for the rant lol but yeah there’s pros and cons in both systems but you’re right free college for all is still amazingly better than paying $1,500/class imo. I’m sorry. Come to France it’s nice and we love American people you’ll be popular? /j *Edit:* I’m so sorry for the stupidly long rant I’m really passionate about education 😭
@@SisselSasha i don't know if this is the case for the original comment, but it might be a college art class, as I have a friend that majored in visual art and quite a few of her classes had learning how to write critiques baked into them as an essential part of the curriculum.
@@sydmm-ui8hm it’s super interesting, so your friend was in college art class but she also learnt how to write critiques, not just how to deal with them? So it’s like her college taught her how to create art but also how to view others’ (and her own!) artwork critically. That’s a great teaching method, both for future artists and future art critics- essentially be in each others’ shoes. I hope she learnt some useful stuff and classes were interesting! Some schools should take notes lol
@@maryinsanfrancisco I suppose, to that end, throwing the tantrum to end all tantrums to get that review more noticed is a very generous way to look at what happened. I mean, it's not what happened, the dude threw a giant baby tantrum, but you COULD say he was just amplifying his recognition by pushing a narrative. Interesting.
yeah i've been in the industry for over a decade and have had solo museum exhibitions - i would cry if i got an artnet review (with happiness), even if it was critical (or even esp if it was somewhat critical, because that is a learning opportunity to improve the work). this man is wild.
As a young adult trying to get into art, this writer was incredible at being both supportive, but fair in his critiques of the work. Part of why it took me so long to even try getting into art was because I was (and still kind of am) afraid of the critic culture around art. This dude felt like a breath of fresh air and I would be honoured to recieve such a kindly worded critique with actual insight into what you should do to improve. If every art critic was like him I would've started learning art YEARS ago. I cannot believe this dude's reaction to such a kind-hearted and generally positive critique of his work???? Definitely a reveal of true character in my opinion. I hope that one day he, too, looks back on this incident and cringes.
Exactly my thoughts! As an artists, I'd be honored to get reviewed by someone as thoughtful and polite as Ben Davis. The reaction doesn't make sense anywhere outside the world of social media, and I would argue that it's too babyish and cringey even judged by social media "celebrities" etiquette. It's just immature and absolutely disproportionate to what's been said in the article.
Agreed tho I will say, as an artist who likes drawing for fun, I would be incredibly irritated to receive unasked for criticism, but as far as that goes, this dude definitely tried to be nice about it and he didn’t deserve the response Rodriguez gave, and really if ur gonna make an exhibit ur basically giving permission to critique, people need to learn to block and ignore fr
I highly recommend the book How to Write About Contemporary Art even if you yourself don't end up writing about art. That will give you a good idea of what's written in earnest and what's just fluff.
@@MayvaAva Yeah, really feel what you said about an exhibition basically being permission to critique. I don't understand artists who desperately want to show off their work to other people but don't want to hear what other people think about it. They just use people as compliment machines instead of as people who have their individual thoughts and reactions to work.
@MayvaAva Idk as long as the complaint is a genuine criticism and not just a misunderstanding of what you're going for I think it can be helpful, bashing intentional parts of someone's style is goofy but simple things like shadow and shading corrections, colors, and non style related proportions are useful
Thanks D’Angelo! As a colleague and friend of Ben’s, I was shocked that such a gentle review garnered Swiftie level attacks, and that Devon’s representation of UTA was cheering him on behind the scenes. It’s obscene and thin-skinned. This is a fantastic run-down. Appreciate you!!
I am an illustrator who follows almost exclusively artists on social media, and I’ve never heard of him. People constantly forget that what’s happening online is not what’s happening in real life. I’ve also never heard of an artist with such unbearably thin skin. that was the MOST innocuous critique of an artist I’ve ever heard, it was barely a critique at all. It’s always an opinion, but photorealistic art is not for everyone, especially an art critic that spends his days looking at far more unique and expressive and I’m sorry but probably more creative artists. I think deep down Rodriguez knows this, and has a massive chip on his shoulder about it. Dude, you did what the majority of artists can’t do, make money and get acclaim. Laugh your way to the bank and don’t blow up your career over the kindest critic who has crossed your path.
What’s funny is, he strikes me as the kind of artist for whom the vast majority of followers are not artists themselves. I, as an artist, do not see the appeal of his work. When I look for artists to follow, I look for fun and intriguing styles and techniques, things that involve actual creativity, things that I don’t really see in Devon’s work. With him, the whole appeal is the “drawing people on subways and surprising them with the finished picture”, not the actual art itself. His work is geared towards dopamine hits, not the admiration of something thought provoking and/or beautiful
Photorealistic art is amazing the first time you come across it, but it quickly starts to lose its appeal if there's nothing more meaningful behind it. I guess the framing of his videos adds the "something more" with the story of the random subway encounter -- but that story isn't going to be for everyone, either.
I was on deviantart like 12 years ago and let me tell you the criticism I got on there from other kids and teens was a million times more scathing than this critique. Crazy how insecure he is about such a tame article
Yup. K am not a fan of photorealistic work either, I've always found it more as a skill demonstration than true expression. The logical path would be to master photorealism and then start experimenting instead of getting stuck on it. But then the type of art I make is not everybody's cuppa either. And you just deal with it, i stead of doing what that dude did.
The amount of almost tearing up and powering through talking with the proffesors whos ripping through your artwork is a required thing for every art student.
He went to the High School of Art & Design in NYC, that school taught Calvin Klein and Marc Jacobs and many comic book artists from DC. I recently graduated from there as a film major, and I will say many people skip out on college or more formal training because the school teaches us that we are better than everyone else. Many of his paintings he did in high school are up in the hallways and are arguably very, very good work for a high schooler; however, it seems like his work hasn't evolved much since then. Do with that what you will I guess.
I would just like to add, of course, he is talented; however, I would've liked to see something less formulaic than painting in a photographic style, which is something he has been doing since his departure from the graffiti scene and more of something that provokes thought using his insane talent. It's mind-boggling to me that he is this sensitive to criticism even now, but it doesn't surprise me, given my experience at his former high school. I kinda sounded like I was hating for a second, so I thought I would clarify.
Definitely insecurity and/or trauma. I say that as someone who probably would react like that because of insecurity and trauma. Thankfully I'm enough in therapy I'd learn to lose my shit in silence lmao. But in my case at least, it's a "out of control" issue. If I think I'm shit, myself already that's fine. If someone I don't know and have zero control over their perception of me thinks I'm shit (even if I don't think ben ever did here), I feel I've got to do something about it. Either plead with them, gain their affection, go on the defense/offense, overjustify myself. Lots of weird coping reaction that will always make things worse than just leaving it alone x). Dude needs the self-awareness to realize he hasn't coped with some shit tho, because people's perception of you and your art being out of your control and potentially "unfair" is literally unavoidable as an artist especially at his scale of public attention.
I think the fact that an actual art critic tried multiple times to get into his exhibit and then gave him an honest and gentle critique is a massive compliment from the art community. Like you said it’s the opposite of gatekeepy. The fact that Devon missed that intention shows how little experience he has really. He is more influencer than professional artist unfortunately
Exactly. Unfortunately, many internet personalities thrive on drama as part of keeping themselves trending; and many artists nowadays face so much unnecessary bs that they've taken to demonizing any and all criticism. The result is internet personalities that are oversensitive and constantly looking to energize their community by manufacturing antagonists for them to dog-pile on.
@gen_li7725 I wouldn’t call it gentle. It was underhandedly harsh. He basically accused Rodriquez of being a rip-off of his art teacher. That’s tearing down everything he does and saying he has no creativity.
devon defense squad out in force, hope y'all don't choke on the boot you're fellating. ♥ my man the critic was absolutely gracious and inclusive, devon is so pathetically thinskinned not to see that. having millions of people who do enjoy his work and losing his shit at literally one person saying "there is merit here, but this is not for me" like bro. BRO. but yeah, devon is not creative. he has huge technical skill, no doubt, but art is interpreting and using your own voice and the man has nothing to say.
Imagine making it clear that someone has SHATTERED your self-image with their opinion, and then having the nerve to say that they’re just a guy with an opinion that doesn’t matter. 😂
@@laurencarlson1235don’t worry about that comment, it’s a new comment trend people do to get likes and attention. it’s not serious, I’ve seen like a thousand other comments exactly like this lol
The artist could have spun this into gold by painting an actual “rotisserie chicken hand” and gifted it to the art critic or sold copies of that. My elementary school gave marks on categories such as “takes criticism well”, a category I used to get negatives on because I would cry when criticized. But I grew up and developed into a realistic, emotionally mature adult. Devon, you should have used this as an example to your followers of how to handle criticism of all kinds in life. 💕🐝💕
The hand immediately reminded me of Mad magazine. It's giving Al Jaffee. But, without the humor and originality, it manages to be more a lot more dull.
if i received that criticism on my art, i'd go "dang u right, thanks for the input" then paint a rotisserie chicken and title it "the hand." then probably obsess over getting my hands to look better on my own 💀
Oof been there, I finished my BFA while dealing with undiagnosed OCD and cried many times and ruminated many times over crit. Makes things less precious when you have so many deadlines too, because of the emotional and time sacrifice it feels more personal than it is, so glad we’re better now lol it’s the thing I miss most from school.
art major here. i used to paint realistically until one of my professors told me it was a waste of my time because i should’ve just submitted a photograph instead. in the moment, absolutely devastating. cried in the bathroom lol. but retrospectively so helpful for my overall trajectory. when sticking to a reference photo 100%, it’s not uniquely your own artistic voice anymore. take liberties!
that was how I felt about his art. I lived his story and his "quick way" of drawing a realistic picture. I then thought his art was very boring. It was like looking at photographs.
ps..I could see him working on painting murals. Nothing more. It is not like seeing the picture "scream" which has an effect on a person and it is something you think about over and over.
I had the same exact experience and guess what happened? I began to develop my own style and a more expressive painterly style and people really like it. I now illustrate children’s books for a living 😀
I think Devon even having an exhibition was a mistake. I don’t personally find his art or account super interesting but I can appreciate the form of his videos. The art is not the picture, but the act of drawing the picture, handing it to the subject and capturing their reaction. I’s uncomfortable, superficial and awkward, this clean cut format that lacks genuine creativity that is where the artistic value is- A piece on the easy consumption and production of art within the lense of social media. Remove the camera and the video and you lose the art… hence why the exhibition imo didn’t work. Shame about the whole issue, he had real potential.
hyperrealism is a hard genre to critique because it’s so technically challenging, but there is something to be said about the shallow virality behind these pieces and how the same realistic portrait with no other subject matter can be kind of boring and lifeless. it’s well painted sure, but there’s no real visual interest in the subject matter. adding on the fact that devon rodriguez seemingly only cares about his social media presence and acts so childish in response to critique lowers the sophistication of his work even more. he is the reason content creation-focused artists don’t get taken as seriously, which is a shame because there are so many great artists trying to make their living online.
Especially hyperrealism in a conventional medium imo. It's obviously a very hard skill, and I understand that, but I'm much less impressed by someone who can do a hyperrealistic drawing in pencil than I am by someone who can do it in ketchup or pennies or whatever, because they're actually coming up with their own methods whereas humanity has spent hundreds of years figuring out how to do it with a pencil. Also yeah, if you're going to do hyperrealistic art and it is genuinely hyperrealistic, my brain will not give you a lot of points for that and will just move on to critiquing the piece like I would a photo, because that's essentially what it is now. Honestly kind of feels like really hard Lego. It's objectively impressive if you can put a whole death star set together in an hour, and that's super cool, but you were just following instructions. I'm much more interested in the guy that can look at a pile of loose bricks and see a fish tank.
@@jessemiller4953what this guy paints isn’t even hyper-realism, it’s just basic realism. Hyper realism is beyond copy pasting reality (that’s why they call it “hyper” realism).
I actually went to highschool with Devon and we had the same AP illustration class for junior and senior year. He was seen as someone who had a lot of skill and no one ever really critiqued him. This weirdly brings back a memory of having one conversation with him and he was saying something to the effect of being confident and conceited are the same thing and couldn’t be convinced otherwise. I never spoke to him again after. This video is an interesting trip down memory lane but doesn’t surprise me about Devon. Side Note: Drawing people on the subway was a consistent class assignment Mr. Harrington gave us. I love how he took that idea and ran with it…Mr. Harrington would also stress how the hands are second to the face when it comes to expression and focus points in a painting so I’m surprised he didnt finish the hand. AP illustration 101
I went to A&D back in the day and STRUGGLED with hands! After a while I just hid them behind the model in the illustration lol (I was a fashion illustration major). Did you have Mr. Pakter? I wonder if he's still around.
Very interesting because in my high school I had art with a girl who did equally good realism and she was so hard on herself I spoke to her once about how lucky she was and she just went on about how she wished she could think up of ideas instead of working from reference. Same skills but entirely different mindsets
It’s disappointing that Devon won’t just own what he does. He doesn’t want to see himself as a technically talented artist who makes digestible art themed entertainment for the masses. His story of an underdog who came out on top is very inspiring and widely relatable. Realism is easily understood by the everyday viewer who hasn’t studied art. I don’t need to have studied art to know that his work looks like it’s subjects. The videos are uplifting and brighten people’s day. He’s figured out how to bring art and positivity to a large audience and I think that’s great. I don’t get why he acts like he reinvented the wheel. His commitment to seeing himself as a misunderstood outsider to the art industry is more pretentious than anything in Ben’s review.
Exactly. And in the artworks there's nothing unconventional at all. Just technically good photographic figurative pieces of everyday scenes of life. The unconventional image comes from the social media promotion and his personal story. Nothing wrong with it.
“..love will always outshine hate..” says the guy whose legions of followers, apparently with his blessing, engaged in a campaign of hate against a guy for doing his job. Dude, what? “I hope I taught you that today”? Nope, swing and a miss bud.
I totally understand what the art critic is saying. when i was at delgado community collage my art teacher had this assignment where we had to recreate Asian folklore into art and mine was on tsukuyomi and her brothers and i thought i had captured what i thought it meant to me. so when she critiqued my artwork i got butthurt and it took me years to understand that what she meant. she told me "its not bad but its lacking creativity or emotion to sell the piece" she just wanted me to push more to give the painting a soul. so i understand how he feels but with time hopefully he can grow from this.
good for you to be able to grow and understand the constructive criticism, its not easy to put down your ego for that. while maybe his's already so inflated by everyone around him, that's why the reaction is so bad....
As an amateur writer, I've been told in critiques that: a plot point, or indeed an entire plot, didn't make sense; characters were unlikable; I needed to study more geography; I should read some specific work; I was executing a trope badly; my wording was confusing; I misused an analogy; so many bad scene transitions; incorrect tenses; run-on sentences; inserting personal opinion as meta-narrative; etc. The list goes on. IF you have to respond, the *only* thing you should say to criticism is, "Thank you for taking the time to look at my work. I appreciate your feedback, and I'll take your suggestions into consideration." That's it. That's all.
Honestly those all seem like helpful critiques if it made you double check and maybe even change things. I’m not egotistical enough to think my rough drafts are somehow above suggestions. 😂
thats definitely the bare respective minimum! i know i should do this more but i love to talk shop and ask more questions and have a critical conversation rather than just be on the receiving end of criticism - i also like to engage with it like a commentary during criticism. this is mostly jsut because i love talking to fellow artists, and i've been shamed somewhat during art critique for this and im not sure why!
@@magibear357sometimes this can be an issue with critics who just want to hand criticism down, but don't necessarily have any advice. this isn't to say their critique is wrong, but they may not know exactly how to fix the issue personally. in those situations i take the feedback to someone else and ask for advice from them
I'm about to go into my honours year in visual arts, he's literally LIVING. THE. DREAM. At this point in my career, a critic NOTICING me enough to write a review, positive or negative, would be HUGE. I'd be framing it, even if it was scathingly negative, because that means I've made it. I wouldn't be shocked if this tanks any professional art world prospects he may have in the future and he's stuck going down the purely influencer route - and I doubt it'll last long if he continues to react to any form of critique like that. It's a shame because his work is genuinely beautiful but the critic was right, it really resembles those hyper-realistic drawings everyone sees on Pinterest but doesn't think about for more than 2 seconds. It doesn't say anything about him as an artist besides that he's very talented.
It's basically shooting him in the foot that he has no formal education in art. As someone studying creative writing, I know criticism is a eky element to mprovement. He treats it like a personal attack when he was supposed to take advice into consideration if he wants to and improve areas of his work. The creative spheres are no place for someone who can not take criticism. They will sooner or later be cushed if they can't adapt to take criticism. No one creatie will ever please every person on the planet with their creative works.
Yeah, youd figure hed realize that. Like no matter what the critic said, he made a public critque of your work which put your name out there in circles other then teeny bops on tiktok.
Hm… I would like to see ur artwork, because the way your comment was somewhat straightforward!! Maybe your art is amazing just like your words. Do you perhaps have insta? (Sorry, my tiny grammar attitude seems to be really enjoying this lol)
I was an art major, and legit, the first thing you learned is how to deal with criticism and turn it into a positive, like if you enter the art world, you're gonna get criticized, it's part of being a artist, you're supposed to take that criticism and grow from it, learn new things, get better, like if you can't handle that you shouldn't be a artist
@@rockon8174dude shut up lol you’re going thru comments with this behavior. If you’re a desperate artist, sure, take what you can get. But if you want to learn and to grow as a person and artist, take criticism. You clearly lack the mentality of wanting to be better, so you can stay mediocre your whole life.
@@rockon8174I'd say it's more of a mixture of both. IMO, I believe that art is a combination of creativity and fundamental knowledge. Although some art critics can be snobbish and discourage creativity, it is important to understand the fundamentals if you want to pursue a career in art. It's okay to have your own style, but one should not use it as an excuse for poor artistic skills. On the other hand, it's not right to say that realism is the only true form of art as it disregards the passion and love that goes into creating other forms of art. Art is a medium of expression and it can be used to convey different emotions and themes. When creating art, it's important to understand what works and what doesn't, to effectively communicate your message. I hope this makes sense.
@@kiwipi-qv3grI fully agree! I’m still learning more anatomy, and doing anatomy studies for this reason! That being said, I prefer styles in which the artist exaggerates features. To me the art just has more life.
As a lifetime artist, that critic was super kind, and being an artist means not everyone will love your art. ESPECIALLY art critics. Art is subjective, and in order to improve, you have to listen to criticism.
It always amazes me how influencers will hear one bad thing about themselves and not only have it consume their whole life, but amplify it to such an extreme level that it becomes more of a story than it would have if they just didn't react to it. Edit: Just made it to the point in the video where he mentions people knowing who he is and wanted to add that I had never heard of him either. In fact, on top of that, I've seen a lot of different artists do the "drawing people in public" genre and I can't name any of them off the top of my head. It's mostly throwaway feel good content that I see in passing while scrolling. That's not to say his work isn't impressive, but man is that ego wild.
He makes the vanilla ice cream of art content but gets mad when someone says it. Bro everyone likes vanilla ice cream, that doesn’t make it taste any less good.
Literally famous rapper Aesop Rock sometimes posts pictures he draws of people in the coffee shop in his neighborhood. Devon is definitely incredibly skilled but he’s acting like he’s the king of kings
I have an Illustration degree, and like most in this comment section I need to point out how important good critique is. I have this awful feeling that the dude dropped out of art college because he didn’t like the critiques required in the lessons.
Devon's reaction was that of an entitled influencer, not a professional artist. This will severely hurt his chances of being taken seriously in the professional art world. He weaponized his followers, and that's seriously disgusting.
@@rockon8174 Profit isn't the measure of an artist; nobody thinks the best artists are those who make the most money off of it. And it's his reaction that's the problem, not his artwork. Every artist needs to know how to take criticism. It's an essential part of the work.
This reminds me of how Gabbie Hannah reacted to a poetry review Rachel Oates did of her poetry book. This is what happens when entitled influencers go into traditional art spaces. The review by Ben was so nice, Devon’s reaction to it was beyond childish, embarrassing and disgusting.
I am an art dealer / cultural producer in this "rarified world," and I am all about working with young people and keeping it all transparent and very very real. Let me tell you 1) the art market is desperate for good work by underrepresented groups. This is the least gate-keepy time in contemporary art history, by miles and miles. 2) I think Ben Davis was really talking about social media and para-social engagement as engines of culture, and that is incredibly smart and brave to take on. This was a great bit of content. Thanks!
I am an art teacher, an artist, and a huge art history/contemporary art fan. I would really argue that Devon is far from the most famous artist today. To me, art speaks for itself, and should, especially if we are talking fame. A successfully famous artist is one whose name you immediately know, or whose art you can immediately point to and recognize because you KNOW it by sight. If you walked into a blank gallery wall without a label and saw his drawings, I really think you’d have a hard time picking them out and naming them from any other famous photorealistic artist, or any number of talented but unknown photorealistic artists. His art work does not speak for itself. I wouldn’t even consider him the most famous or well-known SUBWAY artist, considering Keith Haring exists. His work is like little league in comparison to the incredible technique, creativity, and innovation happening with the big players of the actual art world. You volunteer for a gallery show, be prepared to be compared to gallery artists. Imo, I don’t love his work and think it’s a bit of a joke now, but the most universally famous living artist today is… definitely Banksy lol
Jeff Koons, Murakami, David Hockney, jasper johns, Damian hirst... and those are just the dudes it's an entirely different rabbit hole to go down if we wanna start talking about the historical repression (aka GATEKEEPING) of women artists lol I mean come on dude.. if we start judging an artists mastery by their tiktok following then I guess that makes Charlie D'amelio the greatest dancer in the world? Like being technically very skilled and having a good PR team doesn't make someone the most famous artist in the world and it definitely doesn't make them the best
This conversation about him being "the most famous artist" is actually quite strange. He's the "most famous" on TikTok, among teenagers who have very little - if any - real understanding of art. Does that actually have value? I keep trying to say this without being mean, but what he does is really just what almost all art students do every day, before they move on to creating work that actually means something or tells a story.
@@ct5625 I completely agree. His stuff looks like very technically impressive high school artwork and he acts even younger when it comes to the long established and respected world of art criticism.
@@ripple329 imagine him attempting to hold a conversation about contemporary art concept and execution with someone like Wangechi Mutu and failing horribly
The funny part is, Ben Davis is probably more famous than him. He’s a hugely revered contemporary art critic who’s created a lot of theories and terms that are foundational to contemporary art analysis
Devon is a fad. His social media presence will die in a few years, and he will be forgotten. Ben Davis will still have a career, and his influence will be as strong as ever.
Social media fame DOES NEVER translate to some sort of expertise in real life. There may have been artistes who were famous already before jumping on the social media bandwagon (like Kim Junggi) but there is almost no one who gained fame on social media and then went on to become iconic in their respective field.
This guy went to the same high school as me in NYC (not at the same time as me, but still). I used to look up and marvel at his success, and at one point he had a phone number you could text and get a response from him. So, as an impressed teen I texted him. I showed him my art and he reposted it onto his story without tagging me, saying something about how amazing he was by influencing me to make art or something. He is the kind of person to use people to prop himself up even further on a pedestal...it is pretty sad to see, and maybe he wasn't always like this. I wonder if fame always causes your ego to inflate.
Power corrupts those who are susceptible. In other words, those who are already shitty people deep down. As someone else said, Keanu Reeves isn’t like this. People will remember Keanu, but not this guy. I didn’t even know who he was before this video was recommended to me.
“Love will always outshine hate. I hope I taught you that lesson.” Ah yes, the overwhelming love of death threats and getting one fired. Really showed him what love is.
@canislupus4655 He was referring to the live he spreads with his art. I’ve seen his videos and I know the reason why he has so many followers us because he makes people feel good. That’s how he spreads love. This art critic tried to tear all that down with his long article about how Devon’s art isn’t original and not that good. That’s hate. Ben is a typical hater operating under the guise of being an art critic.
@@kuno6443 It’s great that he spreads love through his videos. But that does not mean he hasn’t spread hate has well. The two are not mutually exclusive. Even IF Ben was being hateful Devon did not respond appropriately. But considering the responses you’ve left on other comments I don’t think you care about that. I’m happy Devon has brought you joy but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t in the wrong here.
As an artist, this critic went about this art nicely. Also, i didn't even know "the subway artist's" name until this video. What a toxic example for a starving artist turned successful. Breaks my heart.
how are you gonna get that big on the internet without someone tearing your art a new one? Dude was LUCKY his critic was so even-handed and constructive. Many of us get told to just give up on making art altogether
Yeah but the latter are quite a toxic group. Basically the outside perception of the art community sees them like this when the reality is that criticism is supposed to be to encourage the artist to improve. I think the critic in this case was very kind and offered valid criticism of his art, without trying to cut him down. In short, the critic was doing what a good critic does: point out flaws and indicate how he could improve.
The irony of Devon talking about “pretentious artists” WHILE BEING A PRETENTIOUS ARTIST!!!!! Edit: like, I *cannot* emphasize enough that this attitude definitely contributed to why he didn’t make it in the traditional gallery scene. Yes, there are so many gatekeepers, but an extremely important skill among artists intending to enter this industry is to learn how to pick out the valid criticism from the shitty assholes. I had a professor once claim my art was “too American” (he is French, and I was studying abroad). That, obviously, was bad faith criticism. However, he *did* later say that I should endeavor to add more personal messaging to the artwork, which is a fair criticism. My work does not usually portray myself, and I draw a lot of portraits which, like most Internet portrait artists, don’t really have a ton of substance to them beyond technical skill and surface aesthetic. THAT is a valid criticism, whether I agree it helps me or not, bc it’s something that is actually happening in my work.
If an art critic is mindful enough to separate the artist from their work, the artist should return the favor and separate the critic from their critique.
was absolutely baffled when i realized the critique was related to an actual ART SHOW, not just the tiktok artists videos. you should absolutely be prepared to handle professional critique if youre showing your work at that level, especially one as light handed as the one he got
I'm confused, did Devon really think his "art" exceeded anything than being a nice gimmick? Why did he create a flashy TikTok brand if not to make up for what his drawings are lacking. Does success really brainwash you that much that you even forget about your own intentions?
Damn, not even Devon is beyond public tantrums due to criticism. Art is subjective, not everyone will find your art to be amazing, and that’s fine. It doesn’t mean your art ISN’T amazing. Take it from from someone who has literally drawn since they were 4 years old.
Exactly. I heard it and it just seems like the critic just prefers paintings that, while being realistic, still can clearly be delineated as paint. That's just a preference. He acknowledges the technical skill. He didn't just bash him for an entire article did he? Did I miss the entire point?
I’m sure a 4 year old would be much more open to criticism thank Devon, when my siblings would say my Star Wars drawings weren’t right I just asked why and wanted to make em better cause I loved drawing clone troopers and didn’t understand what wasn’t right about it, so the criticism helped.
@@Abbywise32You didn’t miss the entire point, DEVON missed the entire point. There was hardly criticism if you ask me, he just said that his style was impressive, but lacked a bit of personality (which it is imo). Ben wasn’t calling Devon or his art trash, he simply said that he wasn’t as enthusiastic about it as Devon’s fan base. And mind you, this guy is an actual art critic, his job is to critique art, critique doesn’t equal bashing someone’s creativity/creations (which he didn’t even do), he just gave his honest opinion and it should’ve been left at that.
@@Window4503 a good critique is a great thing to grow from. Random shit from the internet isn’t the same, but engagement is engagement. Might make me sad but, might help others see what I’m making. But yah my arts pretty damn public but you can’t force people to be interested in you and a lot of historic art causes a stir or was hated. I’ve been in galleries, got responses that made me happy but not a ton, and they haven’t happened in awhile. So yah, crit can bring people in and crit like the one above can be a path to growing as an artist
Something I've heard critics say that i really appreciate is that criticism it's not personal feedback for the artist. If they wanna take it that way they can, but it's really for the audience not the artist.
This is the art version of when Gabbie Hanna lashed out over Rachel Oates critiquing her poetry and giving it a bad review. another RU-vid made a video defending Rachel and said “book reviews are for the reader” several times during it
Savy Writes Books is the youtuber who talked about the Rachel/Gabbie situation from the point of view of an author and reviewer! It was a great video explaining why literary criticism works the way it does, for people who were jumping on the bandwagon of "it's mean to criticise someone's published writing that they're selling to fans for money"
@@Jenninka see, I actually thought some of the criticism Gabbie was receiving, even from Rachel Oates (who also gave good constructive feedback mostly), was a bit mean spirited. Like, it was entertaining and not a big deal, but it felt a bit weird when people were suggesting Rachel’s criticisms were super standard even the parody book based on the joke that even Rachel’s dog could write better (the funds went to charity, and even if not for charity I don’t think roasting a successful RU-vidr/author is that big of a deal, but I can also understand why Gabbie didn’t see it as typical criticism). Rachel’s criticism was that of someone who knew what they were talking about, but not all of it was delivered in the most typical and professional way (again, fine, I enjoyed Rachel’s roasts). Gabbie finding it disrespectful would’ve probably been fine imo (though she had so many people being way harsher that singling out Rachel would’ve been odd regardless), except Gabbie launched so much hate and vitriol towards Rachel that it was impossible to have any sympathy for Gabbie. Devon’s response to Ben was similarly disproportionate, except Ben’s criticism seems very professional and positive overall. Harshest comment was probably about the hand, but even then he acknowledged many artists struggle with hands and the artwork was still technically very good. So Devon’s response to Ben strikes me as even stranger than Gabbie’s response to Rachel. Gabbie’s and Devon’s reactions to criticism were both far more damning than anything a critic could say, especially the fact they both singled out people who weren’t even being particularly mean though. Also reminds me of when, early in Tim Minchin’s career, Tim wrote a song for Phil Doust, who’d left a negative review. Tim wrote a song wishing Phil’s family would all die and other awful things. People liked the song and I don’t think there was much controversy around it. So this bizarre overreaction to critics and weaponising your fanbase isn’t even that new to contemporary influencers.
@@genericname8727 rachel is not a professional art critic, she's a youtuber. as much as i understand your point about some jabs she made about gabbie, it's not her job to be gabbie's editior OR a professional poetry critic; she's a content creator first and foremost, so she provides entertainment for her audience. i find it a bit weird that we expect (more typical) influencers to get a free hand in creating their content, but once someone on the critic/commentary side of influencers does the same, it needs to be perfectly worded, always in good faith, not a mean word so that gabbie can accept it/"see it as typical criticism" and another weird thing is people finding issue with her making a parody of her book. like, a parody, a form of art itself. it's not disrespectful, and it shows a great level of illiteracy (or unawareness of literature at best) that gabbie amongst other people find it to be hate or mockery.
I'm thoroughly convinced that people who have these sorts of kneejerk reactions online (and sometimes in real life too, unfortunately): 1. Cannot read or analyze as well as they think they can 2. Are not emotionally mature to handle criticism 3. Are choosing to be ignorant and just want to react and complain for clout
As an art major myself I think that everything the critic said was fair and constructive and what I would have heard in one of my classes. A big part of art school is learning to receive criticism and realize that it’s about the art not you as a person. No one is saying things to be mean, they’re saying it in hope you use their feedback to your advantage. I’ve seen a few of my classmates get so worked up that they almost cry in critique over comments that are not mean. I realize that critique can be a sensitive subject for some artists but in order to survive and thrive in the art world that’s something you need to learn how to take.
agreed! my professors in school wouldn't let a piece go through critique day without something negative being pointed out. there's ALWAYS room for improvement and critiques are meant to bring that to your attention for you to decide how to improve your next pieces
As someone who has never been to art school I feel like learning to take criticism is a basic skill we’re all supposed to learn in high school lol. He clearly just doesn’t know how to emotionally regulate and accept criticism as helpful rather than threatening
@@Prettyp1999Yep. It's an important part of life. I wish I'd learned the lesson a little sooner because the first time I received serious criticism it felt like the end of the world lol. I suspect this is this artist's "First Criticism" moment - a little embarrassing that it's in the public eye, but it's a small price to pay for the other things his celebrity has gotten him. (Tbh it's also not that serious) Hopefully he'll learn and grow from it!
When I got a portfolio critique when I was applying to art schools; the professor giving the critique made a point to say that anyone can copy a photograph or do photo realism. He said once you learn the rules, break them. And tell a story. The drawing he liked most of mine was a dragon roasting a hot dog lol. It is not far off to say the subway art guys work is contrived. He clearly has the technical skill. Now he just has to be brave enough to tell a story
Agreed. This is why I call artists who do this kind of work "Xerox Artists," because all they do is make an exact copy of their subject. If you are going to copy an image, then you should go into photography instead. You could accomplish the same thing by doing less work. What they don't realize is that photorealism is not really an artistic style, in my opinion. The purpose of photorealism is to learn to develop your skilset in rendering subjects accurately. Sooner or later, you have to move on from photorealism in your career and start to develop your own unique creative voice. I see so many artists get stuck in this stage in their careers, and while they can be very commercially successful, their work starts to become very bland and formulaic over time. I think this is what is happening to Devon. But nobody will care because it's not about really the art, it's about him and his brand. So there you have it.
@@cynthiavaldez5941yess took me until graduating high school (after 2 ap art classes) that i could be doing much more with my artistic skillset by not just drawing portraits of pretty girls all the time. since then (it's been some years) i've made the best works i've ever made and "leveled up" in my art skill in ways i thought just wasn't possible for me :) learning the rules and then breaking them is an art thing i live by fs
I use to work for a production company that was making movies starring “influencers” who wanted to try acting. The rules were we had to have one influencer per film in a leading role, and we could then try to improve the quality of the film by casting professional actors in the other roles. (Quality because most of the influencers had never acted before.) There was no rule which role was which, so we auditioned a mix of actors AND influencers for every major part before deciding on a combo. At one point we were auditioning for a lead actress role and our big boss was pushing for a beauty influencer. We tried to get a better performance out of her in the auditions, giving her suggestions, asking her to play the character stronger and tougher (the film was a book adaptation so the character wasn’t open to much interpretation.) But every take was exactly the same. She never changed. She tried, but she just didn’t know how. She was too quiet and soft. At one point she was sent back outside but the door wasn’t closed properly. Inside, we argued with the boss. He pushed, saying she can get there (he really liked how she looked and her followers) but we disagreed. She wasn’t able to take direction in the audition, and we didn’t have time for her to slowly get better. We had a short shooting schedule and it was starting soon. The worst thing we said was she wasn’t playing the role the way we needed her to, and we didn’t believe she could inside two weeks. That it wasn’t the role for her. Soon after we realized about the door, and it felt like she heard. Less then a week later, she posted a video on her channel. She kept it vague but she discussed what she had heard. And the way she framed it BLEW ME AWAY. She talked about it (a competitive job interview) like a room full of mean, evil people who didn’t BELIEVE in her enough. How she would never be like us, because she’s kind and believes in people and their potential. How she is shocked but holding strong, facing adversity, and believing in herself the way we should have believed in her. I would like to add this was a young, white, blond, well off, beauty influencer/ model. And I’m adding this because she must have faced the least hardships in Hollywood in the 2010s of anyone I auditioned. But she turned a room full of people interviewing her for a job, where only ONE person can be picked, and hundreds will have to be rejected, into a character assassination. According to the way she framed it, there was no winning. Either we gave her the role, or we were bad people attacking her and not believing in her as a person. Did she not realize that makes no sense? Because if we give her the role, we don’t give the role to someone else. So now we are attacking and not believing in the other girl? So we are still bad, negative haters? So unless we can give EVERYONE the role, we are horrible and unsupportive human beings? And the best part was not once did she question herself. Wonder what she could do to be better in the role, or learn from it, or improve. She didn’t have to change, we just had to believe. We just had to be nicer. Because we were MEAN. And all the shocked, supportive comments from her followers. Sigh. We weren’t a company interviewing for a job. We were a family member not supporting her choices, or believing in her abilities. It was so goddam weird and dystopia to me at the time. It was early days of my involvement with influencer culture. (And yes, in the end, she got the part. Boss pushed, we lost 🤦♀️😂).
As a complete art amateur, I'm more critical of myself than Ben ever was. Not only did he offer completely fair constructive criticism, but he also opened/continued a rich conversation about preserving the point of your art and art itself. Devin should've been proud his content contributed in a relatively positive way.
Theres a very specific vibe that all the influencers who unironically use the word "haters" to describe people giving good faith criticism have. its like, entitlement. insecurity. this is why i say validation from strangers on the internet for your art is not a clean burning fuel. it has diminishing returns, its never going to be enough, and its going to hurt you if you dont have a healthy relationship with your own art.
As an art student I’ve genuinely said “meaner” thing to friends about their work and visa versa. Would be interesting to see his geographical viewer analytics because i live outside of America and avidly keep up with art news and the first time I even heard of him was from this article
what's crazy about this reaction is that true gatekeeping would be if art critics like Ben refused to critique his work since they wouldn't consider him a real artist. But Ben did see him as a real artist worthy of being critiqued. Crazy how he's mad he's being treated like a professional artist considering that's what he wants so bad.
Devon’s reaction was childish but omg… his fans…. Like, I am honestly terrified by how willing some people are to go attack someone so blindly… do these people have any rational thoughts at all??? Like, even if you’re a fan of Devon, saw his posts, assumed the article must’ve said something horrible… how is your immediate decision to go attack Ben and not look into what happened at all???
I just want to point out that the artwork Devon produces is not by any means some kind of revolutionary thing. Millions of art students across the world are able to make photorealistic stuff. Of course it takes a lot of technical skills to make stuff like this, but it's not the only thing that gives art value. he's acting sooo entitled and important when it's really not that big of a deal and so many people can do what he does and better. this man needs to be seriously humbled LOL
@christinelee4960 And that’s probably why Ben wanted to poke holes in Devon’s fan base by showing them how mediocre Devon is. Ben is probably pissed off for all those struggling artists out there whose talent far outshines Devon. He basically set out to ruin Devon’s social media following with this critique. If that’s not something to get pissed off over, idk what is.
As someone who was trained in writing in the arts before switching majors I have to say that article is so well written and does gently prod Devon to seek more personal stylizations and less vapid interpretations of his subjects which is a good thing. Crazy how that got twisted
I went to two art schools back to back and crying after your first evaluation is literally an initiation ritual, an inevitable shared experience every freshman has. Just can't relate to this level of fragility. Did he drop out of art school right after this first experience? That could explain the disproportionate reaction to such a gentle and friendly article. And I'm not saying that art school being tough is always a good thing, art school destroying artistic confidence and an artist's inherent uniqueness is of course something I personally resent it for, but becoming able to withstand (and choose to discard, if i wish to) the negative opinions of others is absolutely a skill I need and value as an artist. Since devon has already developed his skills and found success in art and doesn't really need to worry about it anymore, maybe he could use all this excess energy to work on some personal growth from now on.
I literally wish I had thought of that last sentence you wrote, bc it is so incredibly "THIS!!!" The guy can draw, but his social skills need some *serious* work.
god, this comment is so bland and unoriginal. just look at the type-face, the unimaginative structure of the paragraphs, the lack of prose! you'll NEVER succeed in this school with a comment like THAT! (whatever school this is).
as an artist it is genuinely embarassing to see someone take criticism so badly. i also largely agree with ben davis in liking things that are more personal and expressive than the hyperrealism of devon's art and i dont know if he's always been insecure about not having that flourish therefore developing this vendetta against art critics. coz thats what it looks like to me.
It's not embarrassing it's expected. Alot of artists have huge egos and a God complex. I've met a few people and made me feel alone and I didn't wanna deal with anyone who's an artist. Super egotistical people. (I dabble in a little bit of everything)
Can you imagine a woman reacting like Devon did? They would call her names and ask if she's started her period. Devon is the stereotype of what misogynists mean when they say women are "so emotional", he's almost doing feminism a service by proving that he can be pretty erratic.
I totally agree with you, but I feel like misogynists would rather conclude that he is "not a real man" due to a failure to "toughen up." When you try to disprove discriminatory worldviews by exposing hypocrisy, it will usually fail because the No True Scotsman fallacy protects the prejudiced brain
I've met the same amount of unemotional men as unemotional women. Most of us humans are emotional lol. A lot of men who claim it's only women, just think that their emotions are always justified thus their reactions are "logical"
Unfortunately social media has led influencers to believe that they are the center of the universe and dont live in the real world with its regular professional setbacks.
D’Angelo is giving Cher Horowitz realness. And thank you for this video. The artist is no longer interested in his art, only his brand. And that’s why he’s upset.
I would LOVE to see this artist integrate his roots in graffiti/street art into his current work. New York has such a rich history of arts and culture and to forgo not only that history, but the artist's OWN history too for stale ass photorealism is just... sad. My boy gentrified his own art. But also, respect to the artist for figuring out a way to mass produce the most soulless pieces and make hellaaaaaaaa tiktok money, there's no accounting for taste there lol
He probably doesn't have the creative soul needed to do that. He is technically proficient, but that's not enough to be considered an artist. He's very good at his particular niche, though.
as someone who just got their art degree i can’t believe his reaction to that mild mannered critique 😭😭 that critique was SO NICE and he blew up for no reason! it’s painfully obvious he did not get super entrenched in the schooling because there’s a critique all the time on your work!
This happens almost daily in book review spaces. Some of the stories about authors coming after book reviewers can get pretty wild, even involving violence, stalking, and a guy wrote his weird violent fantasies and dedicated it to a critic of his work. This is kinda tame in comparison, and these book reviewers rarely get paid as it is.
Idkk but sometimes when a person reiterates over and over "humble yourself, your only this or that, or your opinion is this or that" its really telling. (basically saying hes a better person without saying it type of telling) These be the same people 2 seconds later on a peace and love campaign like they wasnt just trying to devalue tf out of somebody over something minor. Like hes an artist he should know by now that art is subjective but when your ego is being big upped for so long i guess you forget.🤷🏾♀️
Weaponizing your massive audience, while playing holier than thou is one of the oldest plays in the book. We’ve been through this enough times to know that it’s highly passive aggressive manipulative BS and most people outside of the parasocial connection will see right through it. Whatever helps Devon sleep at night though lmao.
As an artist myself it’s baffling to me to have this sort of response to criticism. Like….I went to art school and we had weekly art critiques on our works. As an artist you ALWAYS have to contend with critiques ESPECIALLY as a published artist.
This was very nicely put critism. In art school critism can be very to the edge and avoid fluff. Straight up every artist I know have at one point been told plainly: I don’t like this, this is bad to me. Because yes, sometimes people will just not like it, thats okay.
i literally am not a professional artist nor do i plan on going to school since art is just a fun hobby for me but i’ve been critiqued before and i always take it as a way to improve while still having fun w my art??? like dude how is he SO upset about this
I went to school for theatre and dance and I cannot tell you how much we would compete with each other to get criticism from our instructors. That means that they are paying attention to you and care enough to help you improve your craft! If I didn't get a correction in a dance class I would be devastated. You need constructive criticism as an artist!! Devon needs to chill and be thankful for what he has gained, so many artists wish they could make a living off of art like him.
If I ever had an article written about my art in such positive connotations I would NOT shut up for a whole week, someone putting so much time of their day to think about what to say about me and inform people who read it seems INSANE to me and it would definitely put a smile on my face at the very least
My man has millions of admirers yet loses his s*** when 1 person took off their rose-colored glasses. I think this might mean that he's had much more support than most and probably hasn't faced much actual hate if he thinks Ben is the worst.
This is exactly what happened when the instagram painting community called him out for faking his subway drawings. He could have just said "its not that serious" but instead he lashed out aggressively and called everyone a hater. Dudes so sensitive to criticism from the art world and other painters
If someone told me a hand I drew looked like a rotisserie chicken, I would laugh for a solid 5 minutes and then fix my mistake. It's not that difficult to take criticism and move on.
Ive heard people say that learning to draw realistically is easy, but developing your own style is what's hard. And ... I agree. Its easy to follow a reference 100% and paint true to life (well not easy. Like you couldnt just do it with no practise) but to develop your unique style and add flair and play with colour is what elevates an artwork and that is the truely hard part. Anyone can learn to paint a still life with enough training. That doesnt mean its not impressive or doesnt have artistic merit... But its not complex. Its not evocative. But realism is often what is most impressive to non-artists, while artists will look at less realistic styles and see all the extra work that went into developing the piece.
As someone who used to be an art student with really bad rejection sensitivity, I totally get not being able to take it in stride lol. But to some degree you HAVE to stop externalizing your own problems. I've been intensely hurt by totally fine good faith art critique many times, and I've never responded by attacking the other person. I think the worst I've done is let on that it does actually hurt my feelings lol. I don't know that I'd be hurt by Ben's article though. Most of it is just describing the context of the art(and artist). I'd be embarrassed by the hand thing probably, but not to the point of losing sleep or you know... My damn mind. Also, I don't think Devin's art being very heightened by the social media context is bad. Take Banksy for example. The art is not that interesting if you know nothing of the context and intention. That a piece can't quite hold it's own without that context, is sometimes just an objective fact of the world, not a slight or put-down. Some people just want a pretty picture to look at, and that's fine, I like those too, but some us also kind of crave a story. Devin's art is not that interesting without the context, and that is ok. He, and potentially his team, have made it work. It's really embarrassing that he's like this. Every single one of these mouthbreathers owe Ben a goddamn apology, this is not how you treat other people.
@@user-ph3ji8gp3pYou are right, realism is a tricky thing if you want your work to feel alive. As an artist, I think his paintings are not technically that good or visually interesting. It is usually because the artist is working from photographs, and photos, being 2 dimensional, are just flat representations of things as opposed to when we observe and paint from the actual subject live in front of our TWO EYES as opposed to ONE CAMERA LENS. That is why many portraits done from photos all just look like they were traced, then painted. So group shot portraits, in many cases, just look like what they probably are, which is a bunch of photos of individuals pieced together kind of like a patchwork quilt, with every person's portrait wanting your attention equally at the same time, and with the light sources not working together and making the painting looking somewhat confusing. A properly planned painting will not feel flat or be confusing. A successful painting will lead the eye around it to what the artist wants you to see and when.
I like how ben focused on the behavior of the artist as opposed to personally atttacking him. One can debate character, but one cannot debate behavior.
Anytime someone uses the word “hater” unironically, I become suspicious of their attitude. Devon clearly has become isolated in his bubble of social media fame and has developed zero sense of self-awareness when it comes to what it means to be meaningfully critiqued. The consistent validation via statistics and numbers has evidently made him detached. His fans are equally moronic. I don’t think the critic is the one who needs to be humbled. Devon knows he’s on the top of the world and it’s clearly made him develop an ego.
"love will always win!" - if Devon's idea of love is sending his followers to a random critic to tell them to kill themselves, what's his idea of hate? Yikes.
As someone who went to an art school and had to show and have my work critiqued by a bunch of artsy teenagers, thid inability to take even the mildest criticism blows my mind.
this is going to be a VERY long comment, so feel free to skip; but i kind of hope that if devon happens to see this, he will read it all the way through. i didn't get secondhand embarrassment from this, i got disappointment and frustration. when it comes to content creation, there should be a distinction between criticism and critique. at first i was like, "he did leave art school before finishing - it's possible he left before learning the substance, experience, and importance of critique." but then i thought about it and realized we discussed and began practicing critique in class literally my first week at art school. we would place our assignments on easels, and then the class as a group would view each and critique it. this was a skill that a lot of us struggled with and had to practice. it's not easy to review art in an actionable way. if you don't like it, you have to be able to articulate why; which in turn forces an objectivity that devon doesn't see in the article because he was offended by pretty much the first couple sentences. but critique is going to be something devon faces again and again. it's a staple of the professional art community. artists who exhibit their pieces have been getting professional critique for hundreds of years. van gogh famously received mixed reviews of his paintings. they gained popularity posthumously. why was his work not appreciated at the time? what do you think people like about his art, and what do you think others _don't_ like about it? what does it say about the art community in his time that his paintings were dismissed until after he'd passed away? duchamp famously resented the extremely critical culture of the paris art community and introduced his _infamous_ urinal, signed "R. Mutt." the question was: what makes something art? is not this urinal something someone had to craft and create? who "counts" as an artist? a lot of artists and critics loathed his art shows because they were designed specifically to piss people off. what do you think? was this an irreverent critique of critique, or reactionary and childish? did this concept belittle other parisian artists who had worked for decades to hone their skill, or did it support them by questioning the amount of work they'd had to do just to prove themselves? these are basically Baby's First Art Analysis that i learned as a freshman, but they're essentially the kinds of questions you should be asking about art. if you can't answer them, then critiquing the art in terms of analysis and review isn't what you're doing. devon also railed against gatekeeping, which _is_ a problem in every art community. but the fact that he has a unique presence and an agent means he's already pretty much in. from here it's going to be establishing himself and working his way up. he'll want to meet other artists. and actually, he'll _want_ more reviews, because he'll want more eyes on his art *in the art community.* social media presence and mainstream popularity is often pretty meaningless there. like, addison rae is a trained dancer and very well known, but she couldn't just expect to be a rockette. you know what i mean? she'd have to audition like everyone else. this is simply not how gatekeeping presents itself. you might find people unwilling to give you access to join exhibits and events because you don't have formal training. you might be excluded from things because you haven't been there long enough. you might find things are by invitation only, and you don't know the right people who would get you one. somebody going, "i didn't know who devon rodriguez the person was, but i've seen his tiktoks, which are very well known" is not gatekeeping. not understanding this is fine, because he's relatively new on the scene. but not understanding this on such a public scale is damaging to his potential career. which he does have. he has a _lot_ of potential. and he should honestly be flattered by the review, because it wasn't a negative one. "i don't see a lot of him in his work, and he has some technical skill to work on" is phenomenal for a fairly new artist. it's almost verbatim the kind of advice he could have expected from his teachers as a freshman in the 2D illustration major. in fact, it's the exact critique laney received in "she's all that" lmao. in the first fifteen minutes of the movie. that exact advice was given to her in a gentle, wise tone, leaving her staring pensively at her politically motivated painting that, in fact, did not represent her perspective as an artist at all. so ultimately, seeing all this unfold left me with two opinions of devon: 1. he's got a lot of growing to do if this critique upset him this much 2. he's an extremely irresponsible online presence. at no point is weaponizing an audience in this way remotely acceptable. he should be ashamed of himself for encouraging or even allowing it. listen, devon, if you're reading this, i get it. getting negative feedback bites. i used to draw a lot for a fandom online a long time ago, and i gained a small following. i craved every notification and excited comment i got on each drawing i posted. but occasionally i would get a negative one, and some of them stick in my mind to this day, almost a decade later lmao. it's not fun. but you and i are both adults, devon, and it's important that we act like it. for the record, no offense, but i also hadn't heard of you as an artist. i had seen your tiktoks in passing, and found the idea that someone might be staring at me on public transit kind of disturbing, if i'm honest lmfao; but if i recall correctly, i commented on at least one complimenting your ability to capture a likeness. i remembered your content, but you didn't speak in your videos. your face wasn't in them. you as a person weren't really a presence. and this isn't bad! i'm not saying that's something you failed to do - on the contrary, i think making the focus of the video be your drawing followed by the simple delight of handing the drawing to the subject was a great idea. that's just why the person who critiqued your art said no one had heard of you. they didn't mean you were a nobody, they meant that despite the ubiquity of your content, you as an artist were kind of an undiscovered gem. and listen, they also weren't wrong in their critique. you probably already knew you weren't confident in that hand. (hands and feet are hard. i'm just starting to feel confident in how i draw feet and i still fuck them up sometimes. i am not confident in hands. i usually just leave them as oblong shapes with lines to suggest fingers lmfao. i'm not a professional.) and, they're right that your art doesn't show your perspective as an artist. it's great if the purpose is to delight a stranger, but what are you saying with it by making it into an exhibit? and _how_ are you saying it? recreating the environment where you draw is a cool idea - what else? the best part of critique, though, is it's actionable. criticism like "this is dumb," "this isn't for me," or "i would be super anxious if i thought someone was observing me when i thought i was enjoying some anonymity" aren't. these can be disregarded. but "you can do x better" and "you can grow by doing y" are critique, shared because they're something you can do to grow as an artist. and you know just as well as i do that you have that potential to grow. you definitely owe that critic an apology, and you _must_ tell your followers to knock it off. it's ok to say you changed your mind. you should tell them you slept on it and realized your feelings were hurt, but that your feelings are your own. tell them you can fight your own battles and don't want them attacking anyone on your behalf. you have that moral obligation, devon. i know you're smarter and kinder than this. don't be a lazy thinker.
As an artist who has spent years and years trying and failing to get his art into galleries and to get noticed, I find Rodriguez' level of entitlement to be jaw-dropping. He's more successful than 99.9% of all the artists on the planet, and he's whining about gatekeeping? Are you kidding me?
I think anyone who wants to pursue art should have to attend some peer to peer critiques or something because you cannot be in this space without some sort of tough skin. Art school prepared me for criticism in such a healthy way
That's the problem. Alot of artists have God complexs for some reason..ive met a few people in the art world and couldn't stand them. Made me not wanna deal with anyone. And made me feel alone..
@@FukaiKokoro there’s too many big egos I absolutely agree. I just create things on my own and have my own little group of creative weirdos and we all make different stuff and collaborate. It’s so supportive and nice. The actual art world is too toxic and hardly worth it to sell off a piece of my sanity for recognition
Honestly, knowing how to give and take critique is to me one of the most valuable reasons to study any form of art at a higher education level. I'm not a visual artist, I'm a writer, but one of the most valuable things I've learned while getting my degree is how to give useful critique to your peers and how to take peer and instructor critique and incorporate it into your work (and getting better at one helps you get better at the other). Without those skills, you can't really grow as an artist.
@@northstarjakobsI wholeheartedly agree with this 100%. it is the best skill I learned even outside of bettering my technical ability within my medium. Taking any amount of comment about your work that isn’t completely positive personally is an absolute death sentence to your ability to improve or look at your work under a new point of view and then your art will just plateau and get stagnant. We are always learning and improving in creative spaces
