The importance of naming your artwork

Have you ever seen the movie Amadeus? An oscar winner from the eighties, it's definitely worth the time to watch it at least once in your life - as it gives you a rare look into the mind of a genius, and the people who recognize it.


That being said, it's not the discussion about genius that keeps me referring back to the movie - it's the pictures that the movie creates to help you understand the artist. Case in point is the scene where Mozart is conducting the last performance of Don Giovanni. After watching these few minutes of the scene the writers of the movie actually have you convinced that you want to buy subscription tickets to the opera. I mean seriously - the opera. But it isn't the music or the visuals that have the viewer so engulfed in the scene - it's Soliari's description of what is going on in the head of that strange little man named Mozart.


I suppose we can spend a lot of time debating whether or not the narrative prods you to buy season opera tickets - but the point I need to make regarding this is a valid one...At no time should an artist title a piece "Untitled" Simply stated, you remove the description, the narrative - from the viewer and along with it any emotion that he or she would otherwise attach to the piece, thus squelching their desire to dive deeper into the piece's meaning and it's overall effect.


You have robbed the artwork of it's soul.


Imagine it:
"Oh what a sweet baby - what's her name?"
"UNTITLED"


Or this:
Buy this cool new car from (insert car company name here)
"The new UNTITLED V-6 with six speed automatic transmission"
There's something you want to fork over $35K for - yes?


Good heavens, if the car companies won't do it - why do YOU?
Do you know how much time and money the automakers spend in order to give the car a name that will appeal to it's target market? And it's harder for them - they have to do this with a simple word.

Take for example "I drive a Nitro" (Isn't that an explosive??) versus "I drive a Milan" (Named for a town in Italy) There are two very different sets of emotion that you will attach to each car simply because of its name.


And now to get back to the soul of your artwork - the song with out the lyrics, the very moment at which you were to verbally communicate with your viewers. Is it so unimportant that you would name your piece "UNTITLED?" People buy art because it stirs them on some level we cannot grasp, and often times that little title on the piece pulls the viewer into some other place they wouldn't otherwise go without your help. It gives them a glimpse into your mood, your memory - your moment and it connects them with you every time they refer back to it. It's that important.


I can go on and on and on making this point -
but I hear the dead commander calling "Don Giovanni" from the grave.


I think that one day I shall see this opera for certain, not because I'm a fan of opera - but because I got to see it from the artist's perspective - for a moment I got insight to where he was at the time of it's creation, and I want to feel the hair stand up on the back of my neck just one more time....