What is this about? I am going to say that I may not wholeheartedly agree with all that I write. What I mean is that I may change my mind and I will definitely repeat myself, which seems unavoidable given the problems of such a slippery topic. This is not fence sitting though. I think this is about discovery: I'm working with my thoughts in a similar way to the paintings in a different medium. And in a similar way Changes can be tracked. Again please feel free to comment, add or correct. This is a learning process and I'm always up for learning more. Thank you.
Right now I guess painting for me is a release from life else where, but it also feels much more than just a past time. It's an activity that holds challenge, risk, excitment, the unexpected, the agony of not being able to get to the studio to make those changes you've been desperately wanting to make all week. It is these challenges that I set myself and only I can achieve them that makes me so determined to keeping pushing on. It is a self contained agenda where I can test my ability to make and create paintings. More and more I feel I am jumping on the Post-Modernist wagon because my practice seems full to the brim with ideas of hybridity, remixing, a dialogue with paintings past and present. I want to bring lots of different visual languages together, not to pose a question or answer, but I guess more of a puzzle for the viewer to engage with, this isn't to say I want someone to stand infront of my work and try and figure it out. It is more a puzzle that is posed in the process of trying to read the 'image', whether the viewers mind can attach some interest to the painting to make it worth looking at. Maybe the viewer can fill in missing gaps to create a scenario in their minds eye, that is how I make the work I think 'oh maybe that looks like a doorway, so what kind of space to I want to create inside the door way?' and so the painting is construct like so. All these ideas are secondary to the actual process of making a painting, but I do think they are important in keeping myself interested in making new work. The biggest challenge that I feel looms over me when I am painting is whether I have pushed this little 30cm x 30cm canvas as far as it will go, I am not interested in stripping back marks to the bare essentials I'm more interested in playing a back and forth game with the surface where I feel it mocks me saying ''come on try it if you dare, you haven't got the balls to make that move''. That is not to say I destroy the painting each layer, it is about adding small steps with unpredictable outcomes. I love painting and I love being in dialogue with painting through the process of making work. For me there is no question of its relevance because that is up to someone else to decide, I only choose to spend my time and efforts making the stuff for what ever reasons because there is a drive inside of me that cannot stop.
ReplyDeleteThanks for getting involved Seamus. Sorry for the tardy reply. I've been away from the computer for a while and jotting down the next few conversations in a pad. I'll be uploading these over the coming days and some of it touches on the things you mention. I felt in danger of making loose comments but perhaps it is important to include these in order to exorcise them?
ReplyDeleteQuite alright mate, sorry I hijacked your space for a rant! I think in a way it is important to feel like you believe in what your doing, and for that you need meat to get your teeth into, which is where the struggle for me lies. It feels as if I need to get that substance, where as it should feel like the substance needs to get me, I want the purpose to feel natural but like you said in your newest post the work feels like a dream picture. For me, occuring outside of relevance to my day to day living or interests. I think its the hunger to paint outweighs the relevance for the creation and you end up in murky waters where the two constantly try to catch up to each other.
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