Today has been a roller coaster of a day and i found great inspiration in reading a quote from an artist whom i adore. . I saw the exhibition of Bernard Reynolds work at the Waterfront Gallery Ipswich , and alongside the lovely tactile work on display i saw a quote from this brilliant, beautiful man, which had been transposed onto the gallery wall which echoed my own sentiments . So i feel it should be shared…….
” I think the modern craze for preparing a philosophical ‘statement of intent’ is ruining art. Why can’t artists paint for the sheer joy and for love of humanity as did Renoir and Chagall ? the sense of fun and human warmth, the love of colour pours from Chagall. Picasso said ‘I do not seek ; i find ‘ , i.e., he makes discoveries while painting, not while preparing a verbal statement before putting it into effect .”
Quoted by Bernard Reynolds, sculptor and more ( and top dude ! ) thanks Bernard…… x
I think it is a good idea to explain why i like using plaster as a medium.. i work with it because i love its qualities , it is a transformative material which is liquid then a solid , ( i note that there is ‘process’ involved again, maybe i subconsciously lean toward that ..? ) . Plaster is practical for this project seing i need lots of ‘rods’ cast in the same shape and it lends itself to that task, i made a re-usable mould and created the ‘rods’ which i then put in the river for varying lengths of days/tides. The affect was amazing and the energy of the tide rushing around the ‘rods’ had made craters and flowing marks on them which were more and more extreme on the ‘rods’ left in the longest amount of time, the longest being 19 tides passing. i was very pleased with the work and got good feedback from people on it which was inspirational.. when i work out how to upload pics i will post some of the images of this work….
Ps i left the plaster surface in its raw state with no finish on it so that it could interact with the environment around it, by being elemental it will change as time passes and take on traces of lifes contact, physical and ephemeral…
I find it fascinating working with the metamorphosis of a material, being affected by the passage of time and natural forces.. the notion of change. The process is therefore an integral part in the evolution of my work, the decisions/experiences along the way, can be as interesting as the finished work..
Here is an excerpt from the journal of ‘Time and Tide’ , in which you can feel my anticipation of an idea being realised.. “Hooray. !, the rods have been placed at the tidal height gauge marker,wired on tight.. Different energies are now in force and i look forward to seeing what happens next.. Now is the waiting time.. i went back to the river later to see how high the tide had got, what a contrast it is to see from earlier,where is was working earlier is now seven feet below the water.It is fantastic to think that the cast forms i created are now under 7 feet or more of water. I think this is part of the fascination with this artwork, you just never know what is going to happen next, results can be fickle due to placing your ideas into a situation controlled by nature. I have really gone for it this time, and have created moulded forms that are longer and thinner than i have done before. I realise i am pushing the extremes and noted some slight bowing due to how the rods have set, but in they went anyway, this is always a new experience and i like the fact that time has already had an effect upon their shape.They will be what they will be………. the fact that right now they are underwater and things are happening is great…………..! “
