(ART) pend·ing
“More than the picture itself, what counts is what it throws into the air, what exhales. It doesn’t matter if the image is destroyed. Art can die; what matters is that it scatters seeds on the ground. I liked surrealism because the surrealists didn’t consider painting as an end. With a painting, in fact, we shouldn’t care whether it remains as it is, but rather whether it sets the germs of growth, whether it sows seeds from which other things will spring.”
Joan Miró: I Work Like A Gardener
I believe over scrutinizing your work can be a form of self sabotage. The first version of this post was probably my ideas in its best form, but the ease of a backspace/delete button often takes away from our raw truths. Slipping away the thoughts we can’t usually recreate. When I’m in a studio session, I always ask to record even the test takes. Often when you’re not trying to create your best work, you create a moment that is unexpectedly the most memorable and treasured. I started writing this post two days ago and it was supposed to be an unrevised spillage of words that came about from a creative flow I was in - but I never hit “publish” and allowed myself to come back to this too many times. The essence of the idea is very much still here but, you get the point.
Critically examining or inspecting anything too closely can take away from the beauty of a natural inkling. I think it serves us well to keep a broader perspective of art, to pause and be grounded within, allowing us to lean in the right direction. I do think time and age helps us to build more depth and the ability to internally zoom out our points of view when creating. All the things we tend to get hung up on in younger years become somewhat minuscule, shifting our focus to the elements of meaning. Every season has its gems. The innocence and ignorance dwelling within our peak moments of youth allow us the freedom to give way to our heart’s many desires. We feel it, see it, imagine it and we typically transition it all tangibly. Naivety is an unappreciated resource and strength to be tapped into.
At the end of the day, being critical of your art is part of the process.
Days of undivided attention aren’t as easy to come by. You have to make a significant effort to pursue the quiet. The moments where you can rest to then engage in the push-pull of your creative process. Whatever it is that flows through you, paintings, strumming your way into a new song, molding clay into unique shapes.. the great pursuit of making art, in any form, calls for a flow to take place as well as the effort to be still enough to notice it taking place.