Colony, 2009 mixed media
I’ve been spending an inordinate amount of time researching art promotion on line lately. Like most aspiring artists, I find this the least enjoyable part of the job and yearn for the day when I can turn the management of my career over to a highly competent, trustworthy professional who also happens to be psychic.
In the meantime, though, I feel like I’m sifting all the time: sifting ideas, trying to clarify my thoughts, taking in new information and leaving behind old ideas that aren’t compelling anymore.
As I mentioned some time ago, I decided to tackle minimalism as part of my art history education after being thoroughly entrenched in the first forty-odd years of the 20th century. It attracted me because I’ve always been so put off by it–the inaccessibility of it reminded me of being on the outside of an inside joke. And in looking–and seeing, I hope– I’ve found some useful things: the power of seriality to create objects or places of meditation and the potency of pure forms are two of them.
I’m still struggling with some very fundamental issues and have no idea how long it’s going to take to get through. One of the things I’ve realized over the past couple of years is that while it’s human nature to sort, classify, identify, and name, every time that someone says, “Oh, your piece looks like (X),” it makes me sigh inside. I’m not interested in narrative and I don’t want to make things that keep people’s thoughts at the surface. That’s what television is for.
And there are two other things of which I am pretty certain, at least for now and probably forever: I believe in making things, and making them to the best of my ability. And I want to make art that people want to really be with.
Guess that’s plenty for now.