artist statement

as of july 11, 2007

my work is about freedom of expression. the time between thought formation and actual creation must be inherently free for me to get a certain feeling that i only get while making art, with total absence of repression. i believe that too much emphasis in the arts is on an ability to perfect an expression through finely tuned craftwork, and not enough on thinking about how to make new and interesting expressions. art that communicates this both inherently with respect to its own subject matter, but also through the expression of the process that brought the piece into existence, for me, displays a more purely free expression.  it is in this way that my process can be viewed as also about unlearning, and shedding the aspects of programming that are involved with learning anything. of course, i value development and learning. however, in the construct of the learning experience one must constantly examine the means by which one is learning. and, likewise with the development of an artistic expression. i do this examining apart from creation. once the creation begins, the arresting aspect of perfect development is largely left by the wayside in an effort to stay true to the original artistic thought. in no way do i think this is how all art should be made. this is simply how my art is made.

-swi

march 30, 2007

in general, i enjoy making interesting things that other people find interesting too.

there's more to say about individual works.

february 18, 2007

after spending so much time thinking about an artist statement that would apply to all art, i am now realizing that i can feel free coming up with my own statement, about my own things.

i seem to be currently making art in 2 categories:
1) projects/ideas: interesting, quirky, fun, sometimes childlike things that might be considered conceptual exercises by art world people that resonate with large groups of people.
2) paintings that fall in the category of abstract images. not sure what else to write about them at this point, though eventually i'll write a paragraph or two that speaks to the work. i do think that's important. i'm spending a lot of time working on this series which is something i have a hard time doing. it's frustrating, and i don't have patience. from day to day things change and i am enjoying being a part of a slower developmental process.

october 14, 2006 - anything can be "art."

but "new art," that's harder to define.

september 18, 2006 - in our human languages, art exists as representations of a concept (of art) that people recognize (as art). but in the same ways that quantum mechanics (under the umbrella of the field of science) points at and is a description of "the uknown," much of art (under the larger umbrella of Art) also points to a mystery. for me, art is more about the expression of the unknown than it is about a representation of a known thing. i believe that most people think of art as another way of representing a known thing. and it's sad, because to me, that's just simple calculated formulaic deterministic boring math. (consequently, in science, all known things are basically kind of boring to scientists, and current uses of known science are deemed, "number crunching.")

and so, art, for me, becomes this paradox of meaningfully expressing an unknown thing. when one encounters such an art piece, they are reminded that their encounters with every day reality, at every turn, are equally unknown, yet perfectly intuitively meaningful. or at least unique and wonderful. or at least unique.

lastly, representational art does have the ability to unveil (or reveal) the unknown as well. but to me, representational art is most interesting when its driving force triggers something in the viewers, causing them to think about what exactly they are looking at.

april 15, 2006 - i want for beauty and art to incorporate a sense of freedom. i want for no one to be wrong about what they find beautiful. but, what if people do in fact find murder and destruction to be beautiful? such things seem to lead the way on a path toward annihilation. maybe art has a good side and a bad side, but it's all art, it's all life.

my own evolved working definition of art, from below, as of today, feb 12, 2006: just because anything can be perceived as art does not mean that art has been defined. ok, so all things can be defined as art, but what makes one thing art in one moment in one person's eyes, and not in another moment in someone else's? my answer for today: an art object, an art thing, "art" is something that opens up a person's eyes to recognize everything as art. in so far as all things existing and being a part of a developmental process toward something good, which i believe to be true, all things are beautiful. "art" has always been on a track to reveal this to everyone. even death, torture, suffering, these are all part of the path. despite our suffering, the path is beautiful. art acts as a sign post on the path. it reads, "from some perspective, this is beautiful, and hence so is everything that exists, and so what will you do with this the realization?" art poses this question. with each passing moment of your life, you must answer it, whether you want to or not.