Beautiful post—as always, Bogdan. It's not easy to articulate an artist's statement, we feel pushed into a corner all of a sudden. In such instances, it's better to focus on our key strengths and find the answer there, just as you do in this article. I believe there is a certain recursivity to our exploration, as if we are turning one more corner inside a tacit labyrinth whose paths we're meant cross. It's good to be able to voice such journeys and then move on with confidence. What's meant to be, is meant to be! Best.
It’s like comparing apples to roast beef. Visual and written are oil and water. Very difficult to come to clarity with two such different mediums. Takes an artistic soul with a solvent of intuition to make sense of the mix.
I love how clear your writing is. This gives me a lot to think about - about how we teach/ expect students to write, and about how we try to articulate in one kind of language or register what we've already expressed in another. I think it works best when each articulation is its own thing, rather than the one trying to express the other. So the artist statement should have an aesthetic and a value of its own, *on* its own, but also be in a close dialogue with the visual work. But of course this is not easy either!
For every serious painting I do the other way around. I start with words, I write why I paint it, what I hope to accomplish, the path I plan to take and in the end I write a post humous reflection, the surprises along the way, the things I thought would work but didn’t, how the work evolved around. It really helped me to improve.
Very helpful as I move from one medium to a new, as-yet-unexplored one.
Beautiful post—as always, Bogdan. It's not easy to articulate an artist's statement, we feel pushed into a corner all of a sudden. In such instances, it's better to focus on our key strengths and find the answer there, just as you do in this article. I believe there is a certain recursivity to our exploration, as if we are turning one more corner inside a tacit labyrinth whose paths we're meant cross. It's good to be able to voice such journeys and then move on with confidence. What's meant to be, is meant to be! Best.
It’s like comparing apples to roast beef. Visual and written are oil and water. Very difficult to come to clarity with two such different mediums. Takes an artistic soul with a solvent of intuition to make sense of the mix.
If by solvent you mean alcohol, then I agree! Thanks for reading!
I love how clear your writing is. This gives me a lot to think about - about how we teach/ expect students to write, and about how we try to articulate in one kind of language or register what we've already expressed in another. I think it works best when each articulation is its own thing, rather than the one trying to express the other. So the artist statement should have an aesthetic and a value of its own, *on* its own, but also be in a close dialogue with the visual work. But of course this is not easy either!
Thank you for reading! It’s maybe how a good movie that is based on a book is its own thing rather than a literal visualization of the book?
Yes just like that I think 😊
For every serious painting I do the other way around. I start with words, I write why I paint it, what I hope to accomplish, the path I plan to take and in the end I write a post humous reflection, the surprises along the way, the things I thought would work but didn’t, how the work evolved around. It really helped me to improve.
That is very interesting! Glad to hear you have your own way of writing about your art