For the last couple of months I have been struggling with finding a new meaning in my art, a new purpose in my creating.
What I found out until now is that the time of miniature settings, staged miniature photography and sewing pictures is over. I am not saying that I will never use these techniques again, but the time of that being my way of working is definitely gone. Maybe it has been over for quite some time already, probably already in 2014, maybe even earlier.
But I got scared and retreated in what I knew how to do best. And I did make some interesting and good works since, but not that many. And it has never really felt right again. Now it feels downright wrong to continue. I have nothing left to say in that technique-but I still wish to create, make, invent, inspire, share, show … Parallel to my thinking about my own practice I reflected, and still am reflecting, on what art means in a more general way; for whom is it, which are its functions in real life, and isn’t it time to reincorporate art in life again. When I seen all these art fairs that seem to become more and more a playground for the rich, the richer and the ultra rich with a lot of boring corporate art then I wonder: why bother? What's the meaning of art if it is merely a way for a tiny percentage of people to invest money and brag about? I can’t connect to this anymore, I lost interest and I find it slightly off-putting, if not downright disgusting. I used to get excited by art but that hasn’t happened in a long time, I feel that more and more of art shown ist there due to choices that have nothing to do with how interesting or good the art is , but all with power and influence and, as usual, money.
Art as a part of life. what does that mean? I have started reading „Die tanzende Göttin“ by Heide Göttner-Abendroth and even though I find her ideas interesting I struggle with the concept of art not being art anymore, but simply a part of life, a ritual, without any „special“ position in society, but then I haven’t finished reading the book, so maybe I haven’t really understood her position yet. What resonates with me though is the idea that art is really a part of life and not something disconnected from our lives. That made me think about how I experience art and how the works that have stayed in my memory are usually those that I saw more or less by accident, during a day where I did loads of other things as well and where the viewing of the art felt like something that fitted naturally into my day … and magically transported me somewhere else, changed my brain chemistry for a moment, became a window to some other world, to a different way of being, seeing, feeling, living …
So it was part of normal life and still it was utterly magical and totally different from the „usual“ and by that transformed me, the day and als the world how I see it. The thing is that I never really cared who the artist was , the art itself was all there was and I didn't read any elaborate explanations that would probably have dampened my enthusiasm quite a bit or completely destroyed the spell …
So where does that leave me? And my art? It means that I will have to earn my money in a different way for a while, because I want to try out what feels right to me. If this means that I will write more, make videos, try to make videos that have some kind of narrative, print my photographs on poster paper so that I can see my work on something else then a screen, i will share on youtube and Facebook and instagram and if no one looks at it, well, then no one does. Eventually I'd like to create some „immersive“ environments, rooms that take you out of the reality you are in for a while and then spit you out again, maybe changed, maybe not … I like art as magic, because I think art IS magic and art that isn’t, that doesn’t even try to change reality or our perception of it, isn’t worth looking at.
What I found out until now is that the time of miniature settings, staged miniature photography and sewing pictures is over. I am not saying that I will never use these techniques again, but the time of that being my way of working is definitely gone. Maybe it has been over for quite some time already, probably already in 2014, maybe even earlier.
But I got scared and retreated in what I knew how to do best. And I did make some interesting and good works since, but not that many. And it has never really felt right again. Now it feels downright wrong to continue. I have nothing left to say in that technique-but I still wish to create, make, invent, inspire, share, show … Parallel to my thinking about my own practice I reflected, and still am reflecting, on what art means in a more general way; for whom is it, which are its functions in real life, and isn’t it time to reincorporate art in life again. When I seen all these art fairs that seem to become more and more a playground for the rich, the richer and the ultra rich with a lot of boring corporate art then I wonder: why bother? What's the meaning of art if it is merely a way for a tiny percentage of people to invest money and brag about? I can’t connect to this anymore, I lost interest and I find it slightly off-putting, if not downright disgusting. I used to get excited by art but that hasn’t happened in a long time, I feel that more and more of art shown ist there due to choices that have nothing to do with how interesting or good the art is , but all with power and influence and, as usual, money.
Art as a part of life. what does that mean? I have started reading „Die tanzende Göttin“ by Heide Göttner-Abendroth and even though I find her ideas interesting I struggle with the concept of art not being art anymore, but simply a part of life, a ritual, without any „special“ position in society, but then I haven’t finished reading the book, so maybe I haven’t really understood her position yet. What resonates with me though is the idea that art is really a part of life and not something disconnected from our lives. That made me think about how I experience art and how the works that have stayed in my memory are usually those that I saw more or less by accident, during a day where I did loads of other things as well and where the viewing of the art felt like something that fitted naturally into my day … and magically transported me somewhere else, changed my brain chemistry for a moment, became a window to some other world, to a different way of being, seeing, feeling, living …
So it was part of normal life and still it was utterly magical and totally different from the „usual“ and by that transformed me, the day and als the world how I see it. The thing is that I never really cared who the artist was , the art itself was all there was and I didn't read any elaborate explanations that would probably have dampened my enthusiasm quite a bit or completely destroyed the spell …
So where does that leave me? And my art? It means that I will have to earn my money in a different way for a while, because I want to try out what feels right to me. If this means that I will write more, make videos, try to make videos that have some kind of narrative, print my photographs on poster paper so that I can see my work on something else then a screen, i will share on youtube and Facebook and instagram and if no one looks at it, well, then no one does. Eventually I'd like to create some „immersive“ environments, rooms that take you out of the reality you are in for a while and then spit you out again, maybe changed, maybe not … I like art as magic, because I think art IS magic and art that isn’t, that doesn’t even try to change reality or our perception of it, isn’t worth looking at.
"three" / pictures for a new world series, 2018
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