Monday, October 26, 2009 – 10:16 pm
Spontaneity in the creation of art has received a lot of good press. It seems logical enough: a process where inspiration from beyond the top level of consciousness is allowed to influence the art. How many times have you heard artists explain they don’t really know where the idea came from? There is a richness of ideas and images that come when open to spontaneity.
But in equal measure, working and reworking and overworking the same composition can produce creative breakthroughs on many different levels. First of all, spending great lengths of time on one particular project gives a greater understanding to the subject matter. Also, there is no reason why a little spontaneity might pop up here and there within those longer time frames. Taking the time to get to know your subject can reveal the unexpected. As an experiment, try taking a work of art to its completion seven times before considering it done. Move it through seven major revisions, or repaint it seven times. Be open to ideas that come up and new works that might be fostered by such in-depth research.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 – 12:44 am
I was recently listening to an interview with a musical synthesis composer (Alessandro Cortini) who mentioned a process of working that allowed for unexpected things to happen that he wasn’t in complete control over and how this would take him to new creative places. I’ve employed this same idea in my visual work. His process involves digitally programming some settings that when used with different “patches” creates something unexpected. The visual equivalent for me is to create complex layered images that when changing the order or blending mode of one of those layers gives a completely different take on the overall image. When I was painting with mixed media, I’d often pour wax over a piece in progress, or otherwise irrevocably change it, so as to create something that might surprise me and take me down a new path.
Having the need to be in control over the art can stifle it, while letting go and staying open to something a bit beyond what you’d normally do is a good habit to form.
Monday, October 5, 2009 – 10:58 pm
I’m guessing most of you following this blog create artwork for a specific end product: a painting to hang on a wall, or a sculpture; maybe a book or poem for publication; music to put on a CD and so on. What if you were to envision a different context for your work to exist in? Would that give you additional ideas to pursue?
What if you were to create a painting intended to be a book cover, or a poem that became a song? My point is that I often have been stuck on the thought that what I produce eventually gets framed and hung on a wall, but now as I create work to be seen as animation (a project that is actually in the works), elements in my work previously seen as static can be thought of as transient and moving. This opens up the visual possibilities and I’m thinking that this could do the same for other types of art. I also think that it needn’t be an actual alternative project. Make one up. What sort of art would you create for an imagined CD package? Maybe you could even create the music and lyrics for it!
Visualizing a bigger context for what you’re creating may take you to some far-away exotic territory.