“The artist goes through states of fullness and emptiness, and that is all there is to the mystery of art.” ~ Picasso
Usually in my state of emptiness I stare at my paintings and they stare back at me. It’s like an old Viola Spolin exercise in which the the actors stare at the audience and the audience stares back at the actors. I look at you. You look at me. The question becomes who is audience and who is actor? Who is the painter and who is the painting?
It is difficult when empty to stay clear of self-criticism. It’s easy to look at the archives and think, “I suck. This work is awful!” I’ve learned that this impulse to deride my past work is actually a necessary refueling stage. It’s akin to how a teenager treats their parents when preparing to leave home. Snarky comments make separation easier. And necessary.
In my current state of emptiness Kerri suggested that I play with color and form. Nothing serious is allowed. Smear, pull, scratch,…follow. This is my first experiment while empty. It was fast, fun, and mostly thought-less.
I took a photograph so I could use it on the Melange. I called the photo “hotel art.” Kerri said that title sounded derogatory. But, here’s the kicker: she asked me if I was going to keep the painting. If I was going to claim it as a ‘finished piece’ or would it live for a while as an experiment until I painted over it?
Smear, pull, scratch, spatter, flick, erase. Jackson Pollock called his splatter paintings a recording of the dance. A map of the movement of making a painting. I look at you, you look at me.
Where is the line between ‘serious art’ and personal experiment, especially in the world of anything-goes-contemporary-art? The banana is taped to the wall. Banksy dropped his painting through a shredder at the moment it was purchased at the auction house.
Experiment. Play. Intentional. Improvisational. Keeper. Throwaway. I look at you. You look at me.
All I really know is that I am empty and emptiness does not come with silence. It is a fertile ground for noisy, mostly useless, questions.
read Kerri’s blog post about THIS PAINTING
hotel art ©️ 2019 david robinson [if it is taken seriously or perhaps this copyright should apply equally to messes, play, and fun]
Filed under: Art, Creativity, DR Thursday, Uncategorized | Tagged: color, color and form, contemporary art, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, emptiness, improvisation, intention, Jackson Pollock, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, Picasso, shape, viola spolin |
The Direction of Intention 
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