A review of past work can offer a glimpse of where your next move will be. I often find that when I’m stuck, trying to figure out what happens next, a review of past successes and failures will point the way.
I like looking at successes as a reminder that I’ve busted through blocks before, and failures can perhaps be reworked and improved. For that matter, so can successes. Using past work as a springboard for new work is a great way to get creative and productive again.
One thing I try to keep in mind is what I call “trajectory.” I don’t like the idea of simply repeating older work. I try to take it to a new place. If past work is considered part of a history, or seen as part of a continuum, then it is likely to reveal where things could go. Reviewing past work and projecting it into the future gives a whole new line of projects to work on.
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I have been asking myself that very question: “what next?” which also led me to look at my entire series of collages going back several years…I’m feeling that pull to move ahead to something unknown at present, but looking back seems to be propelling me forward somehow.
There are aspects of this past work that have what feel like jumping off points, ideas, inspirations, that may lead to completely new work.
The transition of seasons seems to inspire this looking back and forward simultaneously…
I like your idea of a personal “trajectory” Bruce- I think the word “trajectory” shows more consciousness about where you are going, or can go, than blind “evolution.” I find, in my art, a play between “foreseeing” possibilities growing out of the past, and the sort of “random successes” that can come from being open to future change (in environment or technique). I’ve been thinking lately about how “progress” can come from both the Form of technological innovations and merging of previous lines of “traits” or Content. This can be something an artist uses to advance their art, as you note, rather than just discovering the path they’ve been on.
This makes me think of Monet’s haystacks and cathedrals, and how one subject can result in a huge variety of treatments. If we went back and chose one work, how many different ways could we do that?
Trajectory vs. evolution doesn’t have to be either/or, wouldn’t you say? I mean, there’s consciously reviewing your work and seeing the possibilities of where you might go with that, on the one hand, and on the other, staying open to what happens in the moment; accidents, sudden insights, inspiration from out of the blue; pursuing a set course or plan, and then staying open to what happens along the way.