How do I make sculptures that exhibit more than "mere" technique? This question is on my mind as I begin to seriously plan for an important solo exhibition deadline in January 2011. It will be my first solo exhibition, and I want the work to be great. In my zeal to improve, I realize I jump to the assumption that the current work isn't interesting enough, the ideas are too old, and I want to develop my ideas a notch or two. But in order to impress myself, I have to work to get out of a trend I see in my work that I wish to get rid of.
I want the sculptures to be more than tricks, more than technique. I am nervous at the exposure the exhibition will bring, since I can't begin to imagine the range of experience represented by the audience. The cross-section of society at an art exhibition opening is really large. Anyone could see the work, from a museum curator to a fry cook. Shudder! The idea of such great exposure is awesome, and winks at the embryonic voyeur in me.
I'm not worried who will like pieces. (Well, not much!) I worry that the work cannot be taken seriously. I want the work to withstand criticism without expecting it to be immune to it. I would love for the harshest comment to be, "I don't personally care for the work/idea/concept, but I can't find any fault with it. I think he treats the viewer and the materials with respect."
Artists love to anthroporphize their favorite material, and then extoll the virtues of treating it with respect. How might one disrepect clay? Perhaps I should re-examine my metaphors!
To date, I have done a lot of work which if feel has the qualities I associate with runner's sprints: flashy, possibly interesting to others, requires intensity and training, executed in-the-moment. The work itself takes a variety of forms, and can be a "finished" drawing or a sculpture, a set of exploratory drawings, or essay about The Next Great Idea. Usually the labelling of "sprint" happens after the flush of activity is over. I like it or I don't like it, but I won't return to it to make changes or corrections. If there's something I really like, I'll take those elements and make something else when the mood strikes again.
I have been making art and keeping records for long enough that I have a great deal of older work to look back upon --much of it sprintwork. The greater time and emotional distance from the work allows me a more objective reaction. A new sensation arises. Sometimes I change my mind about it! A few pieces manage to appeal to me even after a long period of time. I won't say they're "good" but simply that they seem to become more relelvant to me as time passes, rather than less.
Perhaps the works which I still love dearly are starting points for new work. Can the premises they lay out be expanded into more detailed explanations? Can I leave behind the sprint and train for a marathon instead?
SCOPE OF THE EXHIBITION.
I'm thinking of building 12-20 works for the exhibition. I would like two of them to be as large as I would like, which seems to top out at 3 feet; real attention hogs. At the other end of the size range, I'd like maybe 6-10 to be rather small, which for me would be in the 12" range. The rest would be mid-range size.
We'll see. More later.
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