With a few adjustments, another layer of paint, and some stitching, the in-process piece below is respectable. How I wish I could finish my big pieces that quickly. These little guys don't have any angst attached to them - I don't feel they have to SAY anything. They just ARE. So why can't I approach my bigger pieces the same way?
Do you have the same problem? Do you feel everything has to be a piece of visual communication? I need to be a student in my own workshop and work without thinking!
Sunday, November 27, 2005
postcard follow-up
With a few adjustments, another layer of paint, and some stitching, the in-process piece below is respectable. How I wish I could finish my big pieces that quickly. These little guys don't have any angst attached to them - I don't feel they have to SAY anything. They just ARE. So why can't I approach my bigger pieces the same way?
Do you have the same problem? Do you feel everything has to be a piece of visual communication? I need to be a student in my own workshop and work without thinking!
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11 comments:
I think some work can just be visually appealing and have nothing to say other than "I am a beautiful work of art!" Soome work needs to convey a message, but I am happy with wither outcome.
I don't think ANY piece of work HAS to convey a message! It will automatically because of what you've put in to it consciously or unconsciously but I don't believe that it has to be 'worked' at. Let it all hang out is my work ethos! And having FUN! And your postcard is lovely. It says tranquility!
When I try very hard to make a piece "say something", it often doesn't; but, when I just work away, it says volumes. go figure.
Making the postcards is a good way to play and still be in the creative arena. I like to make them too and then return to "more serious" work. It's like a little vacation where you don't go away too far but come back refreshed.
I'm with Gerrie, everything doesn't have to have deep social context. It just has to be strong visually. You invest meaning in your work by the choices you make. However, if art is for the artist (and I firmly believe it is) and you aren't satisfied with something....move on. The next piece is always the best cure.
I really like this one, would you consider selling to me? Isn't it just fun to play with out all the expectations of the piece having something to say or convey. Have FUN!
I'm curious what you mean by "visual communication". By it's nature doesn't all visual art communicate? Even if to just say "Boring" or "yellow" or ... whatever the viewer reads into it.
Or do you mean "deep meaningful" communication? ie CONTENT.
Seems that the artworld fell heavy into the side of content, content, content a while back. And beauty was a looked down upon.
I think things are starting to slowly swing back the other direction. To which I say - hurray. I'm all for beauty - beautiful proportions, beautiful lines, beautiful shapes, beautiful colors.
In my opinion, all the "content" in the world can't fix a bad composition.
Lisa - you pose several stimulating questions - and yes, I guess I mean 'content.'
I don't think that beauty and content are mutually exclusive, and I don't subscribe to the vagaries of the 'art world' -- who cares what THEY say. When I say content, I don't mean there has to send a blatant social message or have "deep" meaning orbe protest art - I think, as Valeri says, the content is there because you put yourself on the page, as it were; consciously or unconsciously. This is part of what makes someone's style so recognizable as theirs.
I agree with both you and Gabrielle about good design being important -- and it is perhaps that aspect that I worry too much about in my own work. Well, enough of all this soul-baring discussion. Back to work! Or play, as the case may be. I wish we were all in the same room so we could really have an interactive discussion. But I guess this is the next best thing...
For me, since I'm not introspective or philosophical, it doesn't have to have "Meaning". And if it tells a story, I don't give two figs if it means the same thing to the viewer....I love it when people can read their own thing into a piece, even if it has absolutely nothing to do with *my* intent--I like engendering that spark.
But no one has yet asked do YOU need for it to have "meaning" or "speak" or have "content." If you do, then work for that. But if you don't "need" for that to be there (gee I wish there were a better way to create inflection in the written word....), don't sweat it?
Cheers, Sarah
I like ambiguity in my work: I don't care whether the viewer sees what I see, as long as they see SOMETHING. This is why I don't like artist's statements. I hate writing them and I rarely read' em. I don't want to know the artist's intent: I don't want to know what I 'should' be seeing or feeling. Leave me alone and let me experience it on my own! I feel I owe the people who see my work the same respect. We all bring our own experiences to art as viewers and no two people see or respond to anything in the same way. That's what makes horse racing - right?
End of rant. Time for a cup of tea and a change of pace.
R.
Until I read your comments, I didn't know that this is a small piece. It could have been 24" x 40" and still just as beautiful.
Last week I wasted more than fifteen hours on an abstract piece that I was trying to do for a commission and it was terrible. So then I did a little two hour project that made me feel better. And then went right into doing my most recent project which I'm very happy with. Who knows what the answer is, but I like your small piece. And not everything has to have a message. A lot of mine do, but they are very small messages -- nothing so profound as war, bombs and money!
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