I think successful
art is made by working in a way that is natural for the artist - one
that reflects his or her preoccupations, and interests.
Working within our time we are challenged
to think about all that is around us. We react to outside stimuli,
or to our own thoughts by creating images that we hope will affect
others.
I enjoy the risk taking aspect of
shifting from theme to theme, and the energy I get from going from
medium to medium. I am beginning to accept that what I do today, in
the present, is all I can do. That is, there comes a time that one
must accept his or hers own idiosyncrasies, and blemishes as valid.
If we wait until we are perfect no art will get done.
This provides latitude for
experimentation, because when the possibility for failure is
allowed, and accepted, then experimentation, and confidence, follow.
Art is about more than beauty. An artist communicates an idea, or
feeling, or tries to make connections. I want each piece to possess
a spatial energy that compels a viewer to look. I want the images to
be universal enough to be compelling. The viewer is either repulsed,
pleased, made interested, or stimulated in such a way that they are
made to consider other ideas that are not so easily conveyed by
printed media.
When I get off track, I am reminded by
Tolstoy’s words about the objective of art: "Art is human activity
consisting of this, that one man consciously, by means of certain
external signs, hands on to others feelings he has lived through,
and that other people are infected by these feelings, and also
experience them."