Rereading through what I have written, it surprises me just how little I speak about the artist… the maker… the practice I pursue… my intentions. What I get is the teacher… instructor… provocateur…
Why is this? Why this lack of conviction – this reticence to comment? Do I doubt my worth… work… courage to face critique?.. Have I nothing to say… Is my work meaningless? Am I already pure teacher?..
Prep for my 10 hours, demands I start thinking again about definition… aspiration… ambition and purpose… Why I make and what I want the work to say… or propose an alternative that negates substance… “Art for art’s sake?”
I’ve examined the origins of the term artist… sought definition… What is it that I am… claim… supposed to be?.. What is the fit?..
In ancient Greece sculptors and painters were held in low regard, somewhere between freemen and slaves, their work regarded as mere manual labour. So what elevated our position?
artist /ärˈtist/
noun
A person who practices or is skilled in an art, now esp a fine art
A person who has the qualities of imagination and taste required in art
A painter or draughtsman
A performer, esp in music
A person good at, or given to, a particular activity, such as booze artist (slang)
A learned man (obsolete)
Someone who professes magic, astrology, alchemy, etc, or chemistry (obsolete)
(Chambers dictionary).
Practices?.. Skilled?.. Imagination?.. Taste?.. Learned?..
Does this fit me?.. Am I side-tracking?.. Avoiding issues?.. Not addressing my training?
I think not… Or maybe it’s just ingrained Mr Teacher… I need qualification before recognition… insight prior to adornment…
Let’s cross reference… second opinion…
The Oxford English Dictionary defines the older broad meanings of the term “artist” as: –
A learned person or Master of Arts.
A follower of a pursuit in which skill comes by study or practice.
One who makes their craft a fine art.
One who cultivates one of the fine arts.
Strangely, instant empathy lies with the second – …”comes by study or practice!”
Teacher?.. no escaping this anathema…
I have my Master’s Of Art… tick box…
I do practice my craft daily… be it generally on an iPad… tick box… Does that constitute skilled?
Imagination… yes… tick box…
But taste?.. ah right!.. ok!.. “The faculty by which the mind perceives the beautiful or elegant”… (Chambers dictionary)… I think I can do that… tick box…
“Makes their craft a fine art”?.. Craft?.. A skilled trade?… Skilled?… Now there is the question?..
…Is what I do on the iPads skilled?…
Skilled?.. “aptitudes and competencies appropriate for a particular job”… tick box… but… don’t all of these just come down to levels of proficiency?.. (Education and grade systems!)…
So… we have arrived at the artwork… Lets presume I pass muster and can call myself Artist… Am I Artist?..
So what is it I do?
Strange how in the definitions there is no reference to research… planning… consideration… development…
Is creation… composition… in art terms then spontaneous?.. a matter of perception?.. intuition?.. instinct?..
Because that’s kind of what the iPad engenders…
Of course… I have starting points… projects… but I question the relevance… does the viewer request this when they view the work?.. Why does audience desire insight? Why this craving for explanation…
Maybe that’s the thing… maybe that’s me… why I shy away… struggle with descriptive…
The main focus of my practice is rooted in the singular pixel and discusses the nature of other singular entities such as viruses and bacteria. Working predominantly with iPad and App technology the principle objective of my work is to create beauty from the minute and infect the antigen in the same way as it taints us. Alongside my research I have developed complex methods of manipulating singular forms and transforming them into intricate, abstract images that hide their origins yet retain hints of their original single structure. Hundreds of slightly different versions are reproduced mimicking virus multiplication. Increasingly as new images evolve, the work is inhabiting and polluting new organic forms and human structures…
There… that’s it… my overview…
… and for the first time… with pride… I have work in New York…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ybd5nSnmvI
…and can hesitantly say…
I am Artist…
