Where do artists find their art?
Is the universe leading us or might we, as mere mortal beings, humbly have something to do with it?
Passion must be involved, as well as our obstinacy to continue when all seems lost.
I believe that while our creativity can come from many different sources one of the most important among these is experience and observation of the world we live in.
If we observe our lives and are aware of our feelings and emotions we find myriad of choices.
The stories we have lived and starred in teach us and through careful observation we will understand things that might have escaped us before.
When I am working I often wonder how much is an accident and how much is choice.
For instance, when I am doing what I call “reverse engineering” where I remove some of the wax layers of the sculpture I am working on, I am engaging in a huge leap of faith that requires me to let go.
Chance and happenstance is now controlling the process.
Is that me or is it the universe creating?
Undeniably, the result could never have come about without letting go of that control, at whatever risk!
Who was it that said that the most talented people are those most aware of their deficiencies and the most willing to overcome them?
Sometimes it takes accepting that which we can’t do.
Richard Serra is a great example of this. [1]
After finishing grad school in Florence he went to view Velázquez’ Las Meninas at the Prado in Madrid.
Serra’s life changed that day.
Convinced he was no Velázquez he went back to Florence and threw all his paintings, easel and paint into the river.
He faced, admitted and even embraced a reality that was nothing less than horrible!
Yet, it was what happened next that matters.
He began an exploration using a list of verbs: to hold, to fold….etc and actually did these things to many different types of materials.
When he got to: ‘To Lift’ (now at MOMA) he did this to a large piece of rubber and this was the start of the rest of his life as an artist.
Serra had found his voice.
With his monumental pieces he has done what he realized he could not do with painting and in embracing that reality his genius had a chance.
Standing between what we dream of and what we hoped for is hard.
Yet, if we can somehow embrace that place and call it home, we may find that sometimes things brake for a reason and we might be surprised with what happens next.
The stories of our lives, experience, limitations and losses, in essence, the challenges of life will mysteriously change our lives.
It is just like with my reverse engineering, if we are listening creativity can get the chance to resound far beyond our dreams.
By Boky and Blake
[1] https://www.ted.com/talks/julie_burstein_4_lessons_in_creativity#t-1016885
And who, may I ask, is the “Universe?”