You have to suffer for your art. I think I have believed that many times throughout my career. If I’m not struggling then it isn’t real, or important, or worthy. It’s supposed to be hard.
Maybe that isn’t true.
Art making is supposed to be easy — I’m creating something that has never been said in this way before, trying to use materials and means of expression in ways they’ve never been put together before. It’s like inventing a language, but a language that has to have some vocabulary that everyone can understand. And the people who’ve taught me — and the people who’ve viewed my work — they have their own language — and I have to remind myself that theirs not mine. I can’t paint to please them. I can only paint what pleases me.
Art communicates. It can have a political message. Or a technical message. Or a philosophical one. It can be historical. It can be ephemeral. It can be very, very, very personal. But it has to have something more than just a message . The artist and the viewer have to share a curious passion and a desire to communicate. A painting has to be an invitation to see something differently — to visualize in a different language — to meet in a new space and share new ideas.
In the new series I’ve started this month, the model is a man full of joy. And so to match that — to speak about that — I have decided to paint in a way that brings me joy. I’ll be curious. I’ll have fun. I’ll try to be fearless, but still pay attention to some of the rules (value, composition, color, texture).
So far, I’m having a great time.