Happy New Year/decade. I’ve spent the last few weeks in reflective mode. I was starting to find it hard to concentrate on my work in December, so decided to have a studio clear up which would give me a nice clear space to come back to after the Christmas period. It was a nice feeling to come back on Monday morning. I’d hidden away most of the work that I had deemed unsuccessful or irrelevant to my current ideas and feelings. I was left with my most recent stuff on the walls, and most of it is pretty small stuff.
My first thought when I returned to the studio was ‘oh dear, I’ve been overcomplicating things here’. It looks too busy, and in that respect unresolved and messy. Nothing wrong with that at such, these are just test pieces, and it’s all an important part of the journey. I’d been thinking about this over the Christmas, about reducing things down, making things really simple, just one mark, just one shape. I’d began to touch on this a couple of posts back when I posted a few images that seemed quite empty. Last night, I was thinking about the work that isn’t seen. All the backup stuff that lead to the piece of work in the gallery. An artist could spend months/years making tons of work, each one becoming more refined until the end result is something really simple. Maybe that’s where I’m heading. I don’t want an ‘end’ result though, because what comes after the end?
I need to learn how to stop myself doing too much to a piece of work. I’ve always struggled with this, i find it the hardest bit, but it’s great when you finally nail it, although I’m not sure I ever have. Is it a confidence thing. Does it go back to the artist statement?
My work always seemed to have a rawness, agressive mark making kind of look/feel. It was very drawing-like. i was inspired by the neo-expressionists. I was encouraged in this direction during the 3rd year of my degree, and then I kept going with it. I guess I got bored of working in that way and everything was looking the same. The more work I did, the more interesting it seemed, but I think I maybe ended up going down the wrong road for a while. A friend of mine once said that, with regards to his work, he was becoming his own worst enemy, and I think I was maybe heading in that direction. The final few small pieces of work that I was playing around with before the end of the year seem to offer me some kind of clue as to where my work will go from here.
