Art as time, and not as object
Trees are not in the business of perfection, and neither are you
Have you ever noticed the shapes that trees make? Growing towards the light, sometimes tilted, sometimes bent, sometimes thorny but always growing nonetheless. Trees are not in the business of perfection, and neither is any other living creature. So why do we has humans use our self-referencing abilities to judge ourselves and our abilities before we allow ourselves to do what we love?
This is a dilemma often facing artists at the beginning of the career, or even stopping people from entering the studio in the first place - we mistake skill for art. What I have realised over the last year of being a full time artist is how inherently incompatible creativity and art is with perfection. The more “pretty” a piece of art I make, the less alive it feels, lying flat and still, it refuses to speak. Alive things have as much darkness as light and that push and pull is what makes life interesting.
As I have moved from an infrequent and highly pressured art practice to the daily practice of play - I realise that instead of a still picture, my art is becoming the process of painting itself. Looking at each of my artwork as the process of capturing this timeframe of my journey allows me to be honest with my painting. I paint where I am, letting go of the ideals of any predetermined outcome.
I now know that the freer I am with playing, the more involved I am in the process of painting, the less I care about making something “pretty” for others, and the more I end up making something interesting to make for myself - the beauty follows.
I am gearing up to launch my next series of artworks, all medium scale and on cradled wood. Titled “The problem with water”, this series embodies the last 6 months of time and memory captures, as I’ve grappled with the murkiness of fear and iridescence of hope that comes with opening yourself up to artmaking.
Keep any eye out for more details as I get closer to the launch.
x
sana
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Art as time, and not as object
I really relate to this sentiment also. I released a video on my YT channel which explained that I will be temporary hiatusing YT to focus more on my personal art making journey. I can't say that i have much time to make art as much as I'd like, but I definitely feel that critical resistance in my head has dimmed a lot now that I'm not sticking a camera in front of my artwork at every given moment. Nonetheless, tehre is still guilt that I'm not documenting my work for display in blog, video or IG-form. Now to get over that issue...
I mean performance art is a whole genre of art making if the camera or an audience allows you to create in different ways - there’s nothing wrong with it. But as artists we always have to ensure that we have enough time to understand what we want to create and some solitary exploration is a must.