faking it

When we started watching "faking it" in class, what struck me was that Paul was actually a fairly good artist. His self-portraits actually looked like him and he seemed to have an understanding of basic art concepts like proportion etc. I think if most non-artists went on that show, they would have more trouble with this than he did. When he moved on to color, he seemed to be doing the same thing over and over, with some random colors and maybe a picture of his injured teenage self. I don't think he's really becoming an artist, he's just doing what he thinks will please the critics.

As for the image, I would say he looks more like the typical "artist" than he did before. While artists don't always look a particular way, he is trying to infiltrate the elite art scene, where artists have to stand out and be individuals and look like he does. Also, the new look probably makes him feel like more of an artist, since it is different from how he looked before and emphasizes the fact that he is making a transformation. However, I don't think his art is going to be judged on how he looks, so it is probably mostly to make him or other artists feel like he belongs.

From what I have seen so far, I don't think that he will become an artist in a month. Art seems like a slow process to me and to be a really good artist it takes time to practice and experiment with different ideas. I think the judges will to 2-1 either way, depending on whether they phrase it "is he a fake?" or "what do you think of his work?"

Erik