Chelsea

Artist: Unknown

Titles: Unknown

(Unable to remember) 

In my last trip to new york city I had the opportunity of meeting with another female artist who was doing abstract paintings and was exhibiting her artwork in Chelsea. The place was not exactly a gallery but a rented space right in the middle of a market. There was another japanese artist sharing the space who had some work up in there as well. In the entrance they had a piano that people could play which I thought was pretty cool.

By the time I was visiting the space I was currently working on a painting that I had been dreading on to stretch on a canvas simply because I knew how costly it would be to ship it back home. I had never seen unstretched paintings like that in an exhibition before  and so from that moment on I started hanging my paintings in my studio with clippers. Being a broke college student I have decided not to stretch any paintings until the day that I can financially support myself. 

Below: One of my works hanging at my studio.

Never thought I could say this but I am really digging the clippers look. 

Canto V

Canto V

Barnett Newmann

(1963)

"I hope that my painting has the impact of giving someone, as it did me, the feeling of his own totality, of his own separateness, of his own individuality." - Barnett Newman

"My child could paint that"

- and then there is people like this. 

Unfortunately, as much as I would like to disapprove of the above, truth of the matter is - YES your child could paint that. As a matter of fact, your child could have probably even elaborated a more complex and more aesthetically pleasing painting than Barnett ever could.

But the real question remains - Why do we value artwork the way we do? What determines the line between 'good artwork' and 'bad artwork'? 

Many people spend many years studying the aesthetics and lives of artists, they elaborate extensive analysis on one single painting and yet are able to make a living out of it. But, Why?

What is it about humans that make professions like this even possible? 

After all, art is merely unproductive labour with no intentions whatsoever to influence actions.

Yet, people like to go to museums, make riots and controversies out of paintings, commit murder, have sex and even make legal decisions based on the art market. 

Art is what we make of it. 

The reason why your 5 year old daughter's painting is not in a museum is because nobody really thought your child's work was worthy enough to be in a museum. 

Art is nothing but a crystal clear reflection of who we are as a society and who we are as individuals - nothing else.

Newman's successful simplification of art down to one single color or shape still amazes me up to this day. 

Foceaute

Foceaute

Acrylic on Canvas

Ed Moses

"I just wait until it goes 'Pow!" said Ed Moses in one of his interviews when referring to the process of art making. Perhaps that statement best represents what it is like for me to paint in my studio. Instead of analyzing and brainstorming what I am going to do next, I like to get myself involved in the process of selecting a specific color scheme based on my mood. Sometimes I pick dark reds, sometimes only black - it all depends on how I am feeling and how inspired I am to represent my emotions on canvas. 

Just like Moses, I like to immerse myself in the process of art making by splashing and throwing all sorts of materials onto the canvas. I never know what I am going to do next or what the end result is going to look like. All i know is that I am not scared to destroy, burn or include any sort of material into my workflow. 

...that my friends is what I like to call ART