In my practice, it seems the main thing I'm trying to get a handle on is what kinds of art objects to produce. Maybe more specifically, the adjustment is occurring re: my idea of the time invested per object as well as the quantity of objects themselves, be they drawings on paper, paintings, or 3d objects, etc. When I was in school it took me months to make what were to me large paintings, like POW:
POW
Acrylic on panel
4x4 feet
Cake
This was the biggest thing I'd ever worked on in college, in my life, up to that point. It took so long to make! And while it was a fantastic experience to make this painting, working on images for so long seems to have made an incredible impression on me. As a creature of habit and tradition, I am led to believe that even a painting as small as a foot square should take as long to produce. And certainly it can, given the proper content demanding due diligence, but what about this painting?
Acrylic on canvas
12 x 12 inches
This painting is all about color. No narrative really, certainly an idea regarding my fondness for pixellation and its relationship with the language of painting, but should something this small take 4 or 5 months? Why? I feel like I've pretty well nailed this one down. A serial treatment would be plenty of fun, but should a painting this small take months? I'm not really sure frankly.
I guess it's less a matter of amounts of time and more a matter of making the color work over repeated approaches and interactions...which can sometimes go as fast or as slow as you allow it to (talking to myself here)
And drawings! My gosh! I need to make more drawings! Not sketches, but finished drawings! Jeez! I need to win some kind of lottery or something so I can make more art. Do they still give out grants for people who just paint or just draw?
I seriously need to make more stuff, though. I don't make enough finished drawings of these pixellated subjects. For example:
Ghost (Marky)
Graphite on paper
11 1/2 x 11 1/2 inches
It seems like such a fun thing to do, drawing these cakes and guns and such with ink wash or graphite or charcoal, but I just never seem to work in that capacity, instead focusing on painting painting painting. I know I love to see the artists I admire examining their (and my) favorite subjects with different media and/or a less complicated approach. Plus drawings can make more inroads for people to understand where you're coming from when you make a painting or a sculpture. It's more flavor in the conversation I'm having with you, the viewer.
And as a side note, I need to completely cease any and all commissions. That money is nice sometimes, but I'm just as selfish as I can be when it comes to making stuff. I just wanna make my ideas real, you know? It's my space and time, that kind of thing.
