The Mark of the Artist

Urban Urchins: obsession continues:

Associated Sketch Book Pages - more stream of consciousness: visual and verbal

The Mark of the Artist:



The following are the views and opinions of this artist. They do not claim to reflect the philosophies of anyone else, past, present, or future, although there may be others of the same ilk.

There is a constant struggle between the right brain and the left brain (no politics intended - overtly or covertly!) in artistic endeavors. One overanalyses, oversimplifies and overasserts itself while the other walks merrily into the rabbit hole, oblivious to anything other than the rabbit hole. Feed into that mix the desire of an artist to be accepted, approved of, even championed plus the fact that many of those who play the role of acceptor, approver and champion are unaware that the rabbit hole even exists and you have more cause for creative angst. I'm speaking about perfection vs imperfection in art.

Volumes have been written on this and there is still no consensus on which has more merit, so I'm voicing my personal opinion. I like to see the mark of the artist in any given work of art. Although technical skill of great degree is required to produce perfection, such as photoreal paintings or perfect sculptures, etc., it does not intrique me. It does not draw me in. It does not make me wonder about the artist who created it. It does not get me thinking about possibilities or potentials or reasons or.........in other words, it does not engage me, and to me, art is a collaborative endeavor - the artist creates it and the viewer responds in some way, thus completing the act of creation. Otherwise why ever present a work of art? Why not just put it in a back room to be seen only by its creator?

Because of this I make a point of slapping my wrist when I labour over a piece trying to make it perfect. I have to literally remind myself that I LIKE to see imperfection. I LOVE to see the mark of the artist, whether a piece of hair, a partial fingerprint, an uneven seam or whatever. Stepford wives don't interest me at all, but our culture and our era is obsessed with obliterating our individualism. Many of the younger generation rebel against this and, in adopting some form of societally unacceptable behavior end up spawning a group of neoclones all sporting the same "difference". The flaw in a work of art connects me with the artist who created the piece, and so my question to myself while creating is, "could this be made by a machine that would produce 10,000 just like it?"

I'd love to get your comments.

The Creative Process - Visual Stream of Consciousness

So often the seeds of future creations lie in current work. One of the best ways of revealing that seed is to go as deep as you can into the current process. Often verbal cues can stimulate visual creativity, but so can visual cues. Stream of consciousness - the act of letting one word lead to another word, rapidly, uncensored, undirected, can reveal very interesting clues to connections between thoughts. The same can work with visual stream of consciousness. Starting from your current visual focus, let your mind wander and draw/sketch the first thing that comes to mind. Responding to that sketch, sketch the next visual and so on. Work quickly and try to not direct your thoughts but rather focus on responding.
Here is how it happens for me:
In working out more ideas from the Pegasus necklace:

After surface design ideas come shape ideas:

Then come ideas for connections:

And now I'm zeroing in on a shape and a connection:

Add surface design ideas and the mind is ablaze!
(please ignore the blue cast to the photo - image was taken outside in north light, early this am, so, lots of blue. I'll take  better photos as this journey continues)

Urban Urchin Collection

The new Urban Urchin Collection is created and I have so many ideas exploding in my brain I literally can't sleep!