First of all, I have to make it clear that I have no intention to speak ill of any other artist/style. I can not say my opinion is absolute, and everyone is free to agree or disagree with me. =) Now that we get that down, I will go ahead and share my thought.
A impressionistic and loose painting does NOT equal to a messy painting
I see many artists out there trying to get away with a messy painting by calling it an "artistic choice" or "impressionism". To me they are not. If a painting lack of good shape, structure, edge quality, and value, I can not call it a good painting.
I'm convinced that a good painting style is build on top of a solid fundamental skill. You can't produce a good portrait without understand the structure of a human head, nor can you paint a good landscape without understand the atmosphere, the depth, and the lighting of the nature.
It's true that art is subjective, and who's to say what's good and what isn't. But it is also a skill and a discipline. To me it is disrespectful to artists who have spent countless hours practicing and learning the fundamental by calling a messy, amateurish painting "art".
This is not to say that I mastered all fundamentals and the skill set. What I am trying to say is that being an artist takes discipline and commitment. I been to some art shows where I see some paintings are, in my honest opinion, bad. It made me wonder did the jury really see something about this painting that I did not, or is there something else going on behind the scene. Either way, I learned that paintings that got into shows or even won award don't necessarily mean they are good, and paintings that didn't make into a show don't mean they are bad either.
Again I have no intention to offend or judge anyone. However, I do feel that I should stand for what I believe. If we can't respect art as a serious discipline and skill set, how can we expect anyone take us seriously? If you are an artist, I urge you to never stop pursuing the excellency of the fundamental core. I am a impressionistic painter, as you can probably tell, I have no interest in photo-realism. I believe the artist should process the thing that paint through their own eyes and observation. This however, does not mean that I think people should skimp on the core fundamental and go straight into personal expression. My kids can probably express them-self much better than me in drawing, but what differentiate an artist from a child is the discipline of the fundamental skill he/she acquired after years of works.
We live in a day of age where everyone is granted a voice, through internet and other means. While I believe everyone should have the same right, I also believe that everyone should earn their voice in order for them to be heard.