what's in a name?

[sculptor]

"A rose by anyother name........."

however

we all know caligula as a (perhaps mad)tyrant in rome
does our negative image change when we find out that "caligula" translates to "little boots"? It did for me.

many of us have posted our anxieties when we came to the point of having to name a finished sculpture

perhaps a current ploy is naming your sculpture for a current celebrity
eg
contorted kate moss
britney giving birth
where does this end---eg dustin hoffman eating a banana---george bush flipping off sadam?

whither hence?
your thoughts?

sculptor (http://sculpture.net/community/attachment.php?attachmentid=1118)

[ilona]

Is this referring to naming of art pieces? Or more in a general sense?

I know that I often spend almost as much time finding a suitable name for a piece as I do making the derned thing. I have a problem with calling my works 'untitled'...it just seems like a copout to me.

Then again, I sometimes like looking at other people's work and seeing it untitled...it's almost as though they want the viewer to go into it unbiased by any preconceived notions that a title can lend.

I think that might be a long "I don't know". :p

[MountainSong]

Titling is so hard.

Since I work in abstracts and now, at least theoretically, more modern/contemporary work, titling it makes people try to find the title in the work. Most of the work is actually inspired by my impressions of the culture I’m living in and can thus be very hard indeed to explain and thus title, because it’s nearly subconscious.
When I did realism it was easy to title. But now??? Oi vei!
For a while another artist used to name my works, then he ended up with too much of his own work to name and ran dry, so then for a while I’d glean a title out of other people's comments who critiqued the work and impressions they had, next was a spell when everything was named after musical movement’s in classical music....then titling in Spanish….
Maybe Roman numerals would be good for the next set?
A random name generator perhaps?

(hmm....maybe I'll go google a random name generator - kinda like that idea. (this was definitively a long 'I don’t know'.) *L*

[ilona]

A random name generator...how dada! lol :D

[MountainSong]

*LOL* Ilona, That was exactly what I was thinking earlier and thus got serious about finding a good random name generator!
But to truly pay homage to the forefathers a third compositional element is needed…

1. Modern Art plus
2. Titled supplied by random search engines plus
3. ?

3. The work is inspired by living in foreign countries, no…not enough…
they did that, it’s gotta be a contemporary component, something now…..

3. ??

[ilona]

The perfect random name generator is a dictionary.

I named a performance piece that way once, in school. I flipped the book open and pointed several times, and there was the title. :)

[MountainSong]

I picked where to live that way on a map once. *L* the spun bottle landed on Albuquerque N.M. of all places.

So naming art….how about having kids do it? They can come up with some dussies!

[ilona]

I let my boyfriend name one of my pieces once. The piece had a sort of goddess-like quality to it, yet it was also humorous, and every name I came up with was too serious for it. He walked in and I told him my dilemma and he said "Vera".

And it was perfect. Sounded like an old name, yet also had a 'waitress at the local diner' flair too.

Usually the name just comes to me, either during the creation of the piece or afterwards. What never seems to work is trying to make a piece to fit a name...at least for me. I will start out with one piece in mind, and it invariably evolves into something totally different.

Sometimes I don't feel like I am really in control of the things I create.

[Studioinde]

I let my fiancee name most of my pieces, unless I have something strong in mind already. She's more creative with words. And I never name a piece beforehand while i'm working on it, because for me too it invariably changes. I've been considering starting to work in series recently, and that will change things naming-wise. I don't think I want to go the "x" 1,2,3,4 route, but am not sure.....the "y" (subtitle "x" 1,2,3,4) route doesn't seem much better. I'll have to think on that one a bit more.

[Duck]

I was thinking of using the “Strongs” dictionary to translate one simple English word to identify a project, similar to the roman numeral idea. To date, though it’s pretty easy to keep up with the 4 untitled “art” pieces :) ..but hey.. if en I decide to get into the art business and produce 80/100k “ART SCULPTURES” (I’m thinking about becoming the new age Dali) then I’ll surely need to consider some cool identifying method for the marketing scam!

duck

[ilona]

I was thinking of using the “Strongs” dictionary to translate one simple English word to identify a project, similar to the roman numeral idea. To date, though it’s pretty easy to keep up with the 4 untitled “art” pieces :) ..but hey.. if en I decide to get into the art business and produce 80/100k “ART SCULPTURES” (I’m thinking about becoming the new age Dali) then I’ll surely need to consider some cool identifying method for the marketing scam!

duck

You could come up with a unique symbol and be the artist formerly known as Duck.

[MountainSong]

*LOL* That was too funny ilona!

Duck you’re a genius! You’ve just solved my naming dilemma for this round. Symbols! Yah. From the Periodic Chart of the Elements. Metal/Elements, oh yah, it totally works. Plus it's good for at least like 102 names or so right? Or maybe mix and match just within the metals section of the chart. Love it. :D

[Tandigon]

In purely representational work the name would indicate the content. In any other work the viewer would try to use the name as a clue to what the work represents. But you all know this!
Thus what I suggest is that if your particular piece of art originated from the figurative you could simply say so. Like Henry Moore or Picasso. Or you could name it after the mood or aesthetic experience it conveyed.
Abstract ideas in sculpture can be named likewise by what it hopes to convey. The veiwer or potential client will always ask for an explanation of the concept.
Peruse the history of art and you discover that this is not a new predicament. More often than not, words could be misleading, so some of us prefer to invent new words or use numbers. (Dad "What will we name our child", Mom " If he is a boy, lets call him Tandigon, and if she is a girl lets call her Twinkle")

[Duck]

Yeah mountain, I LMAO too! Very funny stuff…they say I’m as funny as comedian Lewis Black …good one ilona ;)

Seriously though, what Tandigon saying makes sense.

duck

[Hallac]

I'm all over the board. Sometimes I have it before, sometimes after and the rest my neighbors come by and after a few drinks we end up standing around a piece or two picking each others brains. We come up with names and/or ideas feeling pretty clever at the time. The next day the ideas don't seem as good for some reason - hmm go figure - but it kept us out of trouble. My favorite is when I'm somewhere else or just really tired etc. and come up with a great title inspired by something I see or just random strolling thoughts and fail to write it down for whatever reason at the time. Eh, no problem I'll remember that one for sure!!! (I'll never learn) Somewhere out there are some good titles/ideas lost to me. They're most likely right next to that money I put in a good-safe-place,... which I've yet to find.

Long story short: I would say don't figure on there being 'A' way to find titles. Personally, I find inspirations from all directions and sources and choose to let the titles I pick have that same freedom. Otherwise I find myself trying too hard saying "I can't" when it's only a matter of time before I stumble onto it. I suppose I could've just said, "Everyone's right." Not much help am I.....