As part of contacting galleries and so on, I've put together an Artist's Statement- click to see it. Not a bad thing to do, nor an easy one. I was looking at advice on writing these, but it said I should write about things like my inspiration and why I do what I do. I'm no conceptual artist and that was a bit of a tricky question, because I don't usually start by planning to do a piece about politics or anything. I'll often paint something because I like how it looks and it doesn't have to be more complicated than that.
I drew a man leaning against a pillar, but what's the point of that? Why draw him? Well he was there and I drew him... I drew some pigeons and two people talking and a woman sitting in a chair and a man doing a crossword and a waitress having lunch- there's a bit of poetry in that, but even if she wasn't a waitress, I'd have drawn her. Why not? They're people, they're doing these things, they're alive. In a figure there's balance, motion, there's the fact that they're thinking something- or dreaming maybe. I don't think you need to make everything complicated. If I was back at college, I think I'd say " I drew him because he was worth drawing- why was he worth drawing? - because he was there, because he was real, because I'm not him, because you could guess how he was feeling by how he was standing; because everything living matters, every moment can be worth something." I might add that I liked the balance in the image, I thought it interesting. I liked the way the waitress was holding her knife and fork and the fact that she was surrounded by tables. I liked it that you couldn't see all the man's face over his newspaper. I liked the shape of the hat the girl who was sitting down was wearing. I liked the way that pigeon was puffed up and marching around. So I drew them. Nothing fancy about it- I just wanted to draw them, and they were worth drawing. Perhaps that's my philosophy, and that's my concept: simple things in life- things you see and hear- people and places and all that kind of thing are precious- why not draw them? Comments are closed.
|