Alongside my work in the second year, I had been sitting for hours and creating drawings that I felt were intuitive and beyond thought. I was going to university in the day and tearing my hair out with a lack of inspiration and then I was going home or to a friends in the evening and drawing for hours.
I have realised since starting my third year that this was due to my preconceived ideas of what an artist should be doing and the way in which they should be working, I felt that I constantly had to have a theme and then produce the work from there and it really stopped me from producing any of my ideas.
Since realising it was due to my own preconceived ideas, it has made me realise that in fact the best work comes from just producing it, as while you are making the work you begin thinking about what it really means to you and the concepts behind it.
Although in chronological terms, I am going backwards with this post, I feel it is important for me to document this shift, a massive shift for me, so I can then update my blog as and when things are created or understandings emerge.
The photographs of my work attached to this post are from my second year.
I didn’t get home until 9pm from university today, I spent most of the day in the library transcribing an interview I conducted a few weeks ago with artist Jane Grisewood. The material was so inspiring and the things she told me so pivotal to my practice I just had to get the transcript finished!
From listening and transcribing the whole interview, I recalled how Jane had told me about an artist called William Anastasi, when he used to visit John Cage to play their weekly game of chess, Anastasi would hold two pencils lightly in his hands while on the subway and allow the movement to determine his drawing. I remember when Jane told me this, I couldn’t believe it! I have thought about doing this, both on the train and on my bicycle (as I cycle everywhere!) it always surprises me how much has been done before!
William Anastasi actually has a very interesting body of work that relates to my practice and I can’t wait to start researching him more thoroughly tomorrow! It is so wonderful to be finding and being recommended artists that have similar interests to me, I feel like it validates my ideas in a way.
Another artist that keeps appearing is Agnes Martin, I have borrowed a book of her writings from the library, so hopefully I will be drawing inspiration from her too…
During my second year I was very confused about my work, I had preconceived ideas about what an artist should be like and the way in which they should work. E.g: Drawing the idea, making it and then attempting to get it into a gallery.
For me this was a difficult concept to grasp as I have always believed that the act or experience of creating art is more important than the end result. Being aware and present in every moment is of pivotal importance to me as I believe we live in a world where we are constantly looking forward to the latest phone, the next holiday or deeper more unsettling hopes of being a better person or a better painter etc and this is really unhealthy because the present moment is all we really have…
Alongside this I realised that there is a common theme of repetition in my work, I feel this is an expression of each passing moment and the repetitive nature of my work requires me to perform gestures/ marks over and over again…
This in turn bring about a kind of meditative state, where the work is emergent rather than predetermined. Even if I begin, a drawing for instance, with an idea for a certain shape or thickness of line, through the repetitive act I seem to transcend though and the work comes from a place beyond my mind.
A contemporary artist that I have been researching for my dissertation and studio practice is Linn Meyers, she is also very interested in this ‘almost meditative state’ through the creation of repetitive organic forms that she maps out before she begins, the work changes as a result of the imperfection of her lines. She has said she is interested in how the drawing change and evolve as she works and is excited about what will emerge.
