After talking to a friend about my artwork the conversation turned to problems within his private life. Perhaps building from the mild philosophical base of art it lead me to start thinking about what my drawings mean to me and what vision I work with.
I had explained my drawings to my friend as trying to express – maybe even – dare I say it illustrate or map the interactions, passages, experiences that we have as we all move through life. I know this all sounds very cheesy and clichéd but, actually I really don’t think it is. What more important, interesting subject could an artist possibly hope to investigate? It is a subject that welcomes philosophical thought and it fascinates me to think about this and what it entails – and how to express it. I suppose I see my drawings as working in two ways: firstly as a larger, whole mass that is seen as one and then the finer details that could be taken as an individual, autonomous microcosm of its own.
The winding, intertwining forms that slip onto the paper appear to me to have a natural – if not obvious appeal to this subject. Push all this to one side for a second… if an artist doesn’t feel a sense of wonder with what he or she is investigating, producing – what the hell is the point of doing it? Art is one of life’s self indulgent pursuits that is rare in the fact that it doesn’t damage its practitioners – in actuality it actively enhances whoever decides to explore its delights.
Needless to say even even at the modest level I operate at I couldn’t love what I do anymore. As Chuck Close said “inspiration is for amateurs” work hard and reap your rewards, this could be materially or spiritually…whatever is your poison.
Thank you for reading my ramblings.
