Um... what does this mean?
People love to say: How is that art? My 5 year old can make that. But really, can a 5 year old make that?
In the typical setting of exhibit viewing my typical inner dialogue usually starts off like this (there's usually a hint of resentment towards the things left out from art school in these scenarios):
Trying to understand Self: What you looking at? I don't get it.🤷♀️🤷♀️🤷♀️
Artist Self: Um, maybe I should try? I'm supposed to understand things I don't like more than things I do like.
TTUS: Oh I see, we're trying to be intellectual today. You know that seeing really is about rods and cones and your intellectualising isn't that necessary.
AS: 🙄 fine. Just try a little. Or else what's the point of showing up. And you know I'm always supposed to show up, that's part of the job. Use that brain. If for nothing else your formalist maker knowledge to look at the materials and just feel your way through.
Definition:
Formalist: Concerned with materials and how they're used.
TTUS: Fine. Shit bits of paper leftover when old adverts are ripped down in the tubes station. And rust marks running down the surface. That's not art.
AS: But isn't it? Art isn't usually what you see. It's also what it could look like and what it references.
TTUS: And it looks like absolutely nothing.
AS: Does it look like Richter stuff in a way? The marks, the direction, some of the colouring, the scale
TTUS: It's time to google and make sure you're on track.
Oh ya. It does.
AS: Reality check: there's a whole load that's left out from art school. They teach you what they teach you and then you're suppose to make the leap inside your head and somehow "get it" and "make sense of the word" around you. And while maybe a 5 year old in this case wouldn't be able to make this, a lot of the way you see the world is actually based on visual and cognitive relationships.
In conclusion:
TTUS: Just keep asking: What you looking at?
AS: I wish you told me that Richter can be found anywhere and everywhere, even in the Tube.
This post is dedicated to my long time friend and mentor Pamela Blackwell who died of stage 4 lung cancer in June 2017. Thank you for teaching me the ways to see and always having believed in me. Thank you for repeatedly telling me I never have to change for anyone, I'm perfect the way I am. Thank you for watching and guiding my studio practice for the last 10+ years. You will forever be missed. RIP. I love you very much.
