Left handed snail

This may be a first. The first time that a new work of art has been publicly unveiled and announced to the Vocal Art Community. Please tell me if it is not, and other new works have been formally announced in this forum. Either way, I am delighted to present to you for the first time: Left-handed snail, 2025, freehand digital drawing. I drew this work yesterday evening, January 16, 2025. It is all my own work.

Am I joking? Is this a stunt? Well, yes and no to both questions. Thing is, those of us who like to debunk art (my thanks to fellow-creator and poet Paul Stewart for bringing the phrase to mind) must be prepared to put up or shut up. So I have put up and I would really like to know what people think. Please share your views in comments and please feel free to be critical to any extent that you feel appropriate. I am not precious about the output of my not very skilled drawing hand.

Firstly, do you see the snail? How about this one?

I can see a snail in Matisse's work but, to me, it looks upside down. The Matisse snail is clearly more colourful than mine, and I cannot dispute that Henri Matisse is better known for his art than I am. Question is, does this make my work any less acceptable as a work of art than Matisse's?

Was a time when, in order to be an artist (here in the UK), you had to be inducted into the Royal Academy of Arts. The Academy was accepted as the sole arbiter of what was, and what was not, art. Before 1922, you could not become a member of the RA if you were a woman and the Academy was, in effect, the final and only judge of what was acceptable and desirable in painting and sculpture.

These days, women are welcomed into the academy and it no longer sets artistic standards. The RA even has an annual summer event that is open to anyone to submit a work of art for exhibition. All very well, but how do we, the uneducated public, now know what is and what is not art?

Personally, I have always considered that art is something created by an artist. Yeah, I know, that leads to a circular argument. If art is created by an artist, what is an artist? Why, someone who creates art, of course. I therefore add to the 'definition' that if a work is displayed in an art museum or some other institution, then it must be a work of art, right? It does not follow that, as a work of art, we must like it. It follows that the creator of that work must therefore be an artist and capable of creating other works. Regardless of any issues of definition, art can be anything you want. There is no way of actually qualifying something as art or not, it is simply a matter of opinion, a matter of individual taste.

Some of my subscribers and regular readers will know that I am a volunteer worker at Tate art museums in London: Tate Britain and Tate Modern. I am a volunteer visitor host, which is someone who welcomes visitors to the gallery spaces and helps them to make the most of their visit. Part of Tate's mission is to make art accessible to all.

Unlike many of my fellow-volunteers, and salaried staff colleagues, I would not describe myself as an artist. At least I would not have done this time last year. Last year (2024) however, I submitted a work to a specially-curated exhibition for staff and volunteers. I just wanted to take part so created a work just for the show and was delighted when it was accepted and subsequently displayed at Tate Modern. This is the work:

Whether I like it or not, by my own definition, I am now an artist. Does it matter? No, not really. Anyone can create a work of art, just as anyone can write a story.

As consumers of art (whether we admit it or not, we all are) we should reject any notion that one must be qualified, quality controlled or approved as an artist. Anyone who wants to be an artist can be an artist. Whether their work in any good or not is entirely up to those who see it.

On this basis I have to admit (albeit reluctantly) to being an artist who has just made a work of art. No quality of creation is implied by this act of making Left-handed snail. That is entirely for the viewer to comment on.

Why 'left-handed snail'? Surely snails do not have hands and therefore cannot have hand preference. Well, the simple and not very poetic answer to that question is that I drew the snail with my left hand. Although I am right-handed, at the time I wandered into the digital drawing studio in Tate Britain, I was holding something in my right hand. I therefore used my spare hand, my left hand, to draw the swirling line you see in Left-handed snail . Had I used my right hand I would, in all probability, have swirled in the other direction: clockwise. Would it have made any difference? There is no way of knowing.

Is the work original and unique?

Why, yes, of course it is. I did not copy any other image and there is only one left-handed snail that I am aware of. I did, as is evident, use a digital medium to create the work. This means that the 'original' exists only in a digital space and, as such, is susceptible to endless copying. This leads to another question in art about the value of 'original' works when set against print or other copies.

How much skill and effort was put into creating it?

It took no more than 10 seconds to create and no time was spent coming up with the concept. I just walked up to the touch screen and drew the left-handed swirl without thinking. I spent more time, put more effort and thought, into saving the image than I did drawing it?

Why don't you create your own piece of digital art? You have the means to do so with your smart phone or laptop. If not, just use a pencil and paper, or piece of chalk on a pavement. You could use the camera feature of your phone or any of the free apps that are available. No need to spend time thinking about it, just start drawing. If you can't find any inspiration, look out the window and draw the first thing you see. Or close your eyes and imagine, feel the art you want to create.

Make some art, write a story, poem, article or explanation about it and post it here with your artwork as featured image.

If you do, please link the story in comments here.

Thanks for reading and happy creating.