I remember the day a painting professor said to me she had worked as a life guard making $8/hour so she could paint and I thought about that later and asked, “why?”  Why wouldn’t she just get a higher paying job and paint part-time, etc….why would she live in such a distressed situation, etc.   She’s now quite accomplished and well known, etc.  Her work is collected and her financial situation has most likely changed.  But this example of success is an exception for the larger majority of artists.  We do what it takes to continue the art–to buy the supplies, to show the work, to talk about our work…to produce and we couldn’t stop making art even if we wanted.   We may pause for long periods of time; however, we eventually hear the internal voice saying, “produce.”  The average person doesn’t understand this but an artist surely understands.  An artist understands why they rent a room in a house rather than buy a house, why they ride the bus or their bike as opposed to making a car payment and avoid any large financial commitments in general.  After all, the art comes first.  Then there’s the issue of how to buy supplies, how to promote our work, how to pay to ship our work to a show, etc.  After all, the crate, the shipping and all is not free and most of  the time you pay for it to be returned as well.

Does the ordinary person know that a canvas, stretcher bar and paint could easily exceed several hundred dollars and that shipping costs, studio  rent and such adds to this cost.  Of course they don’t.  Don’t get me wrong, I struggle just like the rest of the artists…but I believe we can make it if we continue.  I believe that people want us to produce art and that people want to buy art–they want to support the efforts of a good artist.  If you think about it, how, can someone possibly live without orginal art in their homes, their offices or anywhere else….and for this matter–you must support artists.  This exchange of money cannot be compared to anything else…it’s not an easy transaction to describe.

I have been  fortunate in that I am able to survive and thrive because of wonderful, supportive patrons and collectors…but how many artists are trying at this moment to evaluate how much more time they can afford to invest into their career before giving up.  The economics of being an artist seldom makes sense if you are that person who is salaried in corporate America…but if you know an artist you like…if you see work you love and that moves you…buy it!!!  Artists need you and they need you to validate their work with money.  Let’s be blunt…we all need money to survive–especially an artist.

A mathematician develops a system that creates a view of turbulence and then transmits it to airliner cockpits so the pilot can avoid turbulence ahead….but is there an algorithm developed for our mind that does the same so that we can avoid turbulence in the future.  We feel turbulence in parts of our bodies–particularly our stomach and head.  Some can detect turbulence long before an encounter while others must fly directly into the turbulent wind and struggle to then find a way out of the experience.  How we fly out of  the feeling or if we choose to “ride it out” can be in any number of ways but we do make adjustments for the uneasy feeling that comes with turbulence. 

So I ask you to think about the same in visual art.   Perhaps we need turbulence or chaos along with structure in each piece of art…and if so, do we consciously create turbulence in the piece and then pull out the structure? Do we always find this structure through proven compositional methods or can we do so unconsciously with our internal algorithm?     

Can one live calmly and sanely in the midst of chaos and if you can…how do you bring structure to the experience.  Even amongst chaos there must be a structure to hold it in place….or perhaps not? 

Exciting and new work…

As artists, we have an intimate affair with each and every new body of work.  Then we let it go.  With each piece of work there are struggles, challenges, an often frustrating surrender and finally the contentment we need to let go.   We then step back and the teacher appears. 

a quick drawing after a conversation

All of you have stubbled on various topics while looking at Wikipedia and thus I have done the same.  Another look at Surrealist activity and all the links to follow has brought me to the connection in my own work — that being to pure psychic automatism.  The writings of Breton and his contemporaries among others led to quotes which I post for all to enjoy.  They have certainly validated many of my thoughts recently and I wanted to share them with you:

Quotations

• “I could spend my whole life prying loose the secrets of the insane. These people are honest to a fault, and their naiveté has no peer but my own.”
• “We are still living under the reign of logic: this, of course, is what I have been driving at. But in this day and age logical methods are applicable only to solving problems of secondary interest.”
• “Let us not mince words: the marvelous is always beautiful, anything marvelous is beautiful, in fact only the marvelous is beautiful.”
• “Surrealism will usher you into death, which is a secret society. It will glove your hand, burying therein the profound M with which the word Memory begins.”
• “Surrealism does not allow those who devote themselves to it to forsake it whenever they like. There is every reason to believe that it acts on the mind very much as drugs do; like drugs, it creates a certain state of need and can push man to frightful revolts.”
• “In this realm as in any other, I believe in the pure Surrealist joy of the man who, forewarned that all others before him have failed, refuses to admit defeat, sets off from whatever point he chooses, along any other path save a reasonable one, and arrives wherever he can.”
• “It is living and ceasing to live which are imaginary solutions. Existence is elsewhere.”

words and more words

The moment always comes when we revisit our current body of work with words to convey it’s meaning in the artist statement.  The words are intended to explain our work to our viewers.  Richard Tuttle (one of my favorite artists) commented once in an interview that the viewer should have to do some of the work and we should not have to explain everything.  While artists do after all provide the work…should artists also have to explain or should they allow the viewer to interrupt at will?  Would the art survive without a written purpose?

 There are moments when the intent of the work is unclear even to yourself–but we  must present our thoughts anyway.  Then there are the opposing occurrences when we are so very clear of our work  and surely the viewer  must understand what we are saying…but do they?  If they do, then why must we explain so much?  If they don’t, have we failed?

There are any number of reasons an artist must write the statement.  Applications for a residency, proposals for an exhibit or to accompany the entry form for a show.  On this Sunday afternoon, while the sun shines outside I sit at my desk and ponder over the words necessary to explain my current body of work.  My hope is that it is concise, intriguing and honest–most of all clear.  Of course all on one page and always subject to change with every submittal …. I wonder about this formality of the business.  Ummmm???  the oh so often dreaded artist statement!!!!  Any thoughts from readers???

study for balancing series

At what point does pushing two opposing forces actually create balance and when does the strain of such forces create unmanageable conflict?  Can one have balance without an interplay of conflicting elements?  Does our body and mind determine these boundaries unconsiously or do we accurately access the need for balance… and work to create this state of being. Perhaps it is within the control of some while others do not acknowledge the signs of extreme tension and choose to exist in a state of unbalance.   What are the external and internal forces which help, hinder, enable or interfere with this…then what are the results?  Is balance created without friction or tension?  These are thoughts and issues of exploration in my current work while at a residency program at Virginia Creative Center for the Arts. 

dialogue wth smyth and long

Please join me at the Conrad Wilde Gallery in Tucson on March 5th for opening night.  I am honored to show work with some of the best encaustic artists of our time at this lovely space.  The invitational show will exhibit all 2D and 3D work that is hot wax-based.   The work will be on display from March 5th – March 26th and there will be a catalog for purchase if you happen to miss the show.  You can contact the gallery at 520.622.8997 for purchase.

Some of these things find their way into my art.  The colors, the texture, colorful designs and the feel of packaging intrigues me.  Not because I want to save it or reuse it as much as I enjoy looking at it.  I imagine the many people such as designers, art directors and media giants bent over their desk, immersed in conversation about the right color, the composition and how to produce the design that will draw the most people…appeal to the many people and well just deciding on how to choose the most appealing one not to mention the hours spent identifying their targeted audience …and then the production of that special box or bag which is home to the many items we purchase.  Of course, this beautiful cardboard box, sparkly paper or brightly colored ribbon later makes it way to the trash can…does this mean we don’t appreciate all their effort…the many hours of manipulation spent, the flash point in our brain when we so proudly walk out of the store holding the beautifully wrapped item we just bought and then all the care we put into it keeping it nice until we get home.  What would happen if we had to forfeit the bag, the box, the tissue paper….would we buy less?

Make your way into one of those huge stores where you show a membership card just to enter…you stand in line for hours only to pack your own purchase…then  find a box stacked in a large bin which may have shipped boxes of tide detergent…just to carry your berries, lettuce and coffee to your car….even those boxes are beautiful but wow…what a difference.  But you’ll see people doing just this from opening till closing time.   Boxes, bags, wrapping and packaging—a tremendous industry which does pass the costs to the consumers….we just pay the retailer for the privilege of holding onto their colorful bag  for an hour or so before we fold and tuck neatly….and then wheel them out to the recycling bin.

I enjoy thinking about these things while I am cutting, pasting, assembling and using bits and pieces of this “trash” in my art.  It’s beautiful…takes on a whole new meaning and perhaps will be around in 100 years or so.  What do you do with your trash?