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.
Sometimes I wonder what the purpose of making art is. It can be tough for artists that have not found their audience to maintain enthusiasm for their art practice, and I’d have to put myself into such a category. An audience can enrich the process of making art because it gives the art a purpose, that of being shared, seen and experienced. In my opinion, and this is also my ambition, I think art and artists should be inspirational experiences and people. To try to rise above the mundane, using art as a vehicle. Art and artists can intimate something uplifting that is beyond the humdrum routines we becomes easily trapped by. What the ‘message’ is, is of questionable importance. It is the encouragement to change ones views, to believe in life again, to listen to the call to come alive.
I think there is a revolution in the pipeline for art, something akin to Punk in the music world. Not necessarily attitude over substance, but a powerful combination of both. Where talented artists rise above the noise of competition, join forces and take charge of their niche. To have creative endeavors recognised as a career outside of the corporate, I feel cannot come from the inside. It may well come from the outside, the artists and their supporters who smash the existing structure of ‘top down’ funding.
