And does it need to mean anything?
What am I even talking about?
Why ART of course! What else?
Does It Even Need To Mean Anything?
I was writing labels for a couple of pieces I will have for sale in The Wonky Jewellery Company over the next few months, and it was almost worse than writing up sales descriptions for the website. I felt this immense pressure to express my innermost thought process and feelings when creating a piece of art. To almost psychologically analyse myself, and put it in writing - which lets face it, if we could all do this for ourselves without external help, well that would leave a whole industry of therapists out of work.
Why Do I Have To Share It With The World?
When did sharing your inner-most self with the entire world become something that had to be done when trying to sell art?
Why can we not look at a piece of art and just love it for the feelings it evoques without knowing what the artist felt?
Hasn’t the artist given enough of themselves through creating a piece of art and sharing it with the world?
Is the finished piece itself not a declaration of how the artist felt during the creation process? Why should they also endlessly prose about “the meaning” of the art?
You are literally asking someone who speaks their experience of the world with their hands, to both vocalise or write about their experience. Do we now have speech givers, poets and novelists for that - is that not their chosen medium?
It’s All About How You Feel, And Hang The Rest!
Let’s face it, you don’t have a piece of art in your home because you want a constant reminder of an artists inner turmoil or depression or happiness and joy. You want a piece of art in your home because of what it makes YOU feel. What the artist poured into the work is almost irrelevant.
Do you contemplate life when looking at the artwork?
Do you feel smug that you own something that no one else does?
Does it energise and inspire you?
Does it allow you to relax and lose yourself in the moment?
What draws you to the artwork in the first place?
So where am I going with this?
Not very far I’m afraid. I have a lot more questions than answers!!
I will continue to attempt to write my inspirations as eloquently as possible, accepting it as part and parcel of creating art to sell. Struggling with how much of myself to give over to the universe, while not allowing myself to resent it too much!
Ask yourself this - do you really want to know the innermost hopes and dreams, fears and nightmares of an artist when looking at a piece of art? Or would you rather put that to one side, and open yourself up to how you feel when you look at a piece? Take it home because it stirs your soul so much that you want to experience those feelings everyday, not for any emotion the artist felt during the creation process!