I’m getting so tired of reading the same phrases…sense of place; evoking memories;capturing the feel of the place rather than it’s physical representation ; materiality of the medium ….I could go on but I think you’ll get my drift. It’s all so inevitable and makes me think all artists, including myself, are striving for the same things. To transport the viewer into their own emotions about what they are looking at and trying to paint in an original manner rather than a purely representational or, dare I say it, a traditional style.
So, how do artists write about their work without becoming boring and/or pompous? I’ve long had a dislike of what I call ‘artspeak’. The use of invented adjectives to bamboozle the public into thinking I’m an intellectual. But I’m not. I’m someone who is in awe of the beauty and constant astonishment of the world around us, and who loves to paint. I couldn’t say precisely why I love to paint….something about the magic of watching the liquid paint swirling around on a surface and becoming something. The feeling you get when it works out well and the challenge to extricate the problems when it doesn’t. It’s an addiction. You think maybe one more dollop of red will solve it. Or if you scrape back to how it was a minute ago it will improve? It’s a never-ending battle, but one you cannot abandon.
There….not an artspeak word in sight but I think it sort of gives an inkling of what it’s about.
I went to the Summer Exhibition twice this week and revelled in the glorious eclectic mix. I hoped it would give me a clue about how to get selected. But it’s as much a mystery as ever. Here are some of the pieces which I loved and which moved me. Not a single link between them.
