The path of an artist is always going to be and is also well-known as being a difficult one. The term ‘artist’ I will use here in the context of someone who has decided to dedicate their life, or rather their immediate life for an unknown duration to the pursuit and lifestyle of thinking, making and reflecting on their art on a full-time basis. Each artist will have a certain initial vision or notion of their art that is obviously subject to change as the process develops. I feel an artist has to have an awareness of how corruption can sometimes fool us into thinking we are compromising. Everyone likes to feel they are able to compromise, as it shows a flexible and considerate attitude. I have noticed in others as well as myself that we consider opportunities we class as a compromise without initially realising it’s corruption sneaking through a back door. By corruption, I mean of our original purpose as artists. There are many pressures on an artist to give in, to stop making work, or even to change their style to make it more salable. Not to mention the competitive nature of self marketing. Each artist will have different pressures, but all will have them. Taking on a project, task, commission, collaboration, marketing drive, academic research or whatever it may be, if it’s done with complete awareness and choice based on reason and forethought then compromise can function as it should. If not, we are in the danger zone of corruption that can eat away at our self-esteem and becomes a poison to our authentic practice. The authentic artist is what we aspire to and what our potential audience desires. In England there was an advert promoting caution to children when trying to cross the street. It said, “STOP. LOOK. LISTEN. THINK”.
The internet gives the impression that if an artist has a website and makes their work available to buy online, then their audience is potentially global (there are many artists producing work in isolation that are able to support their practice through online sales). If what you make lends itself to the ‘in the flesh’ experience of scale, texture, detail and the all important ‘thing in itself’ experience, then where are the exhibition opportunities in your area? If there are any, do you have an appreciative audience? I consider myself to be an artist that creates work to be experienced in its original state and so it would appear, inevitably I will have to reconsider my location. As the saying goes, the grass isn’t always greener on the other side, but if there’s no grass to begin with… you get my point.
For some artists, ideas are the bread and butter of their practice. For others, actions take precedence. Personally I feel my own practice is a mixture of both. Ideas come and go, as does the immersion in the action of doing/making that ultimately feeds back into my ideas. I tend to write a few words or create a small sketch in my notebook when I have what I think at the time are ideas worth developing, but in practice those writings don’t necessarily go anywhere. The imprint of the idea though seems to settle somewhere in my mind, waiting until the conditions are appropriate to resurface and marry up with another idea or action that takes place. It’s almost like a tennis player selecting the best ball to serve with. Even though the balls are continually being recycled through several games, at the moment he/she has to serve, a choice is made within the confines of that time and place. As a full-time artist, this process becomes easier to trust in. The need to capture ideas through writing them down or trying to hold onto them as a memory becomes less important, as the repercussions of this are to potentially hinder the flow of spontaneous creativity within the realm of the unexpected.
