Being the intersection
I tend, over and over, to step into thin air by myself. I do it while making artwork and by not always knowing when I'm making artwork and when I'm just going about the day. Maybe you can relate. It drives institutions I collaborate with a little nuts.
I work in 2 and 3 dimensions, and also generate that other kind of interactive work that's harder to classify as it can look like a lot of other things. I sometimes call it 4D.
Several apparently unrelated curiosities are lurking in my world and studio at one time.
This is some stuff currently out at my studio. Most are artifacts from completed projects, some are scouts for future work I haven't yet met.
In 2000 while I was at a residency, I was looking at a different mysterious grouping I'd tacked up consisting of:
-an unfolded envelope
-some cotton sheeting smocked with yellow thread, and
-a landscape drawing in pencil across address labels.
Over the ensuing months, these generated a body of drawings, sculptures and my first interactive project.
Right now I'm juggling these three:
-a love affair with the periodic table of elements,
-an exploration of color in hundreds of drawings, and
-the book form.
How on earth do these things relate? What will become of them? I ask.
No one else can tell me.
I am learning though, that as an artist, I myself am the intersection of these things. I don't know how, but showing up to find out is the crux of my creative practice - all projects and pieces appear to stem from that.
I have also learned that
1. no one else cares about my work if I don't
2. no one is likely to notice if I don't care.
3. I will essentially be forgotten 50 years after my death (I think this is true of pretty much everybody)
4. so what do I have to lose
5. everyone is just thinking about themselves for the most part, anyway.
In coming weeks I'll elaborate some on these themes as they relate to current projects, inspiration and artifacts of my practice. I hope you'll stay tuned.
