The series of drawings I have posted recently is a process of putting my thinking on creativity into action. I hope if one sifts through my earlier posts they will make a connection to the work I am making now and the process and approach to art I have discussed earlier.
This series of drawings is not about concepts. Too often I have wondered 'what work should I make?' This is a waste of time therefore I have ignored originating concepts. Instead I am selecting reference from old work I have created then applying a new artistic approach and medium to it.
The new medium is pen on archival paper at a large scale. Traditionally I have worked digitally or with pencil on paper. The new medium forces me into a position of learner.
The scale is important. It makes the process slow. I cannot complete the work in days. rather it takes weeks if not months. What's the benefit of this? The result is I am not connected to the result. The result is too far off therefore I am instead connected to the making. It makes sense then that In the future I will move into far more challenging mediums.
To further the quality of discovery in the work rather than a quality of discipline I do not plan the drawing out to it's end rather I work to discover it. The risk and focus is intensified by working in the permanence of ink. I make mistakes. As i cannot correct or change those errors I must adapt the rest of the drawing to incorporate them and welcome them into the composition. The challenge in the work is to risk, make mistakes, correct and adapt for the greater composition.
The resulting work benefits from this process. The drawing has movement in the variation of approach and quality I bring to it each day. The lack of consistency gives the work it's vitality. The work is unique, unknown and new to me each day.
I wanted to say the process is alive and thrilling but to be honest it is quite the opposite. Being attached to a result creates the thrill and drive but in this process that attachment is gone. Instead the process is simply a joy. The art is about making, not what is made. My hope is that this quality that I enjoy will remain somehow in the experience for the viewer even once the work reaches it's completion. Basically I enjoy making the work and I hope as a result people will enjoy viewing it. :)
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