Creating a Series- Rethinking Artistic Creativity
The more things change, the more they stay the same
Rethinking the idea of creativity
One of the struggles of creative people is balancing the constant advent of new and exciting ideas with past ideas still in progress. For those of us who have several areas of interest or who use several types of medium, this balance must necessarily include the question of a common theme in the work being produced. Some artists have a specific colour palette, or a subject matter of choice which is carried through their various types of work. Some work in series, creating smaller collections of similar styles, objects or themes. And some focus on just one overarching theme which they execute in a variety of different mediums or styles, think of portraitists or urban sketchers.
This blessing and curse of new ideas and project planning is a part of the creative process and I read, again and again, that artists are struggling to know what to paint next, or feel that they have run out of ideas, or are stuck, or overwhelmed with all the possibilities making it impossible to choose. This last I have heard referred to as white canvas syndrome. And although it effects us all it can be debilitating to some.
About a month ago I visited an exhibition by Croatian artist, Julije Knifer at our local museum. Looking at the development of his work made me think dispassionately about this particular plague of the artist practice. So many of us, my self included, are continuously focusing on figuring out what the next thing will be that we can paint, and when creating series we are often thinking about what we already have and what would help to round out the series. an example of one such series in my own body of work is the collection of animals rendered in graphite. I have roughly chosen to group them around the category of wildlife in and around Yellowstone National Park in the US, and each new animal I draw is painstakingly chosen for its merit as a potential member of this grouping. I spend a lot of time sketching and choosing each new animal.
Julije Knifer developed this idea of working in a series to an extreme. He began to create not so much pictures are waves or frequencies (in illustrated form) and turned them into an individual asthetic.
His work is interesting and calming in it's simplicity. Rather than broadening in spectrum as is the case with most artists, he reduces continuously until all he really paints is a single wave. But how he paints it and where are what make it interesting- Murals, flags, the ground, canvases, books, it was interesting to see how creative he could be with his basic symbols.
The Exhibition was surprisingly soothing to the mind and the eye. Although I prefer traditional painting to most modern abstract art, I really enjoyed this. And, of course, it made me rethink the idea of a series.
The exhibition is still at the Joanneum's Neue Gallery for anyone living in Graz. I can really recommend stopping by. There isn't a lot to see, and I don't even know if I would spend a lot of time reading all of the information. It is the effect of the waves everywhere, undulating from room to room that is so impressive.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete