I used to think that if I made something that would be considered to be ‘art’ than that, by default was ‘my work’. This idea has over the past few years shown itself to be highly problematic and generally false.
The fact that as many artists do, I work in several different areas, working in very different ways. How do I decide which bits, if any or all, are the REAL work? And once one area is identified, what do I do about all the others which may be equally valid in other ways? Am I many people or one?
A fragmented and bitty style of working is not particularly conducive to clarity in train of thought. How many great inventions and discoveries were formed in amongst the doing of a thousand other tasks in the same day? Is it possible to find truth and wisdom in amongst a pile of assorted stuff? I doubt it.
In an ideal world, with no financial requirements, would I be working on just the real stuff? Perhaps the real stuff needs to be squashed between the not real stuff and can’t exist without it? If I get rid of my not real stuff will I be overwhelmed by reality? How do I test this equation and am I better off living in blissful ignorance of the truth?
It seems that the answer lies in the edit. What we take out seems to be more important to what is left. Zen purity perhaps. Except that I’m not sure zen suits me. I have been styling myself in chaos for years – surely chaos IS in me? I need to find a way to resist the over hoarding nature I have of being terrified to ‘waste’ anything, and to see that ‘to throw away’ is a valuable tool in discovering what is truly valuable.
