225Art
Here's What Else...
People like to look at shiny things. They like to touch things. Anything that reminds them that they have five senses, or that they have a sense that they forget to use – that’s what resonates.
I primarily work with materials that are rough, jagged, unrefined. Methods tend to be burning, bending, tearing, dropping. I think those media reflect the ideas I'm trying to convey; Not necessarily unrefined or gritty, but broadly forged, framed and shaped looks at oneself. More like looking at the shadow you cast than your reflection in the mirror.
Art reminds you that life is terrible or that life is great, whichever you choose to believe. Anything less, and it’s not doing its job.
I reject art that’s incidental - objects that come into being accidentally, without intention. But accidental art can ignite thought, intention. Accidental and incidental are not the same. Some of my work that people respond to the most is work that I’ve just thrown together. I let the medium do the talking. I only control it a little bit - it just exists. I’m glad it resonates with them - people see what they want to see and take from it whatever fills the void they need to fill. And if you tell them that what they see wasn’t the intention - well, that ruins it for them, I suppose.
On the other hand, if they experience nothing significant - and you tell them what your intention was - well maybe they get something out of it all of a sudden. Maybe you fill a void that they didn’t know existed
A great artist does both. He creates something that expresses an idea that resonates with someone else - a lot of people, hopefully. And it doesn’t need explanation. It’s visceral. It strikes a chord. It leaves the details up to the imagination, but it frames it so honestly. It’s not unintentional, and it’s not intellectual. You don’t have to understand the history of philosophy to get it. You just have to have felt something in your life.
That’s art. That’s life. Feel something.