Why is it important to write? I’m a visual artist. I am constantly looking for colorful ways to express myself in two or three dimensions. I’ve heard numerous people at art openings talking about how they don’t want to know what’s behind the work. They don’t want to be influenced by what the artist has to say. The artist already had their say with the image. So why is it important at all to write? If no one wants to hear any of the supporting evidence behind the piece what is the use of having any supporting evidence to begin with?
The answer can be quite obvious; as in, if you can’t formulate a thought, what are you painting to begin with, but it can also be much more complex as well. How much thought have you put into your images? Do you understand what you are talking about? Do you know how to talk about the subject of your work in another language besides the visual language? Are my art making skills up to the task of making whatever the dialogue in your head is pitching at the canvas, paper, or sculpture. You will need to be able to write the dialogue as you paint.
The dialogue is always there. The piece talks back creating an internal/external dichotomy of conversation between my reason and my creations. The elements and principles of art are dynamic tools of a piece of artwork which can be used to clearly illustrate in what manner I want a piece to be perceived. It is necessary to create an artwork in which you are talking to the piece of art but also in which a third person party will understand what and how the dialogue is proceeding so they may also insert themselves into that dialogue.
The connections that I make between the subjects in my pieces are heavily dependent on my reading, but could at times also be perceived as extraordinarily random. How on earth are we to perceive this diagram of a honey fungus, with this tessellation and this graphic of a simple house with an eighties style boombox built into the side? The context needs to be clear in my head before I can expect anyone to understand that relationship. Sometimes I do feel like I fail. The third party fails to see the connection between my subjects. In this case the element of writing becomes all the more important.
I find that at this point I need to return to my inner/external dialogue with my piece and myself. The only way that I find that I can process the feedback, negative or positive, that I receive on my work is through a written discourse. I write to myself like I am my educator, a fellow professional, old fellow students. It helps me to begin lines of thought which unfold as differing perceptions. I am able to step outside of my own head and into a different world. The loop is finished and I can begin again.
Peace
-Mike