I’ve been doing a lot of cleaning up lately. I bought a new bed for my guest/sewing room (it’s bigger and better than what I had) and had to rearrange all the furniture. As my sewing (and reading) habits are similar to my painting habits (very obsessive and absorbing), there were patterns and pieces of fabric hiding out in every corner and under magazines and books that never got put away because it always feels as if either I will use it soon or there is just not enough storage space or, more simply, I’d rather do something else usually than clean up.
So (this is a long preamble to say) I found some quotes I had typed out a few years ago when I was asked to give a talk at the Shambhala Centre in Halifax. My first response to the request was that I would be too afraid to do it. So she suggested then that I talk about fear. These quotes are about different artists’ reactions to the question of how they face a blank canvas, that gap in activity where anything can happen.
The sculptor Richard Tuttle said
If you force yourself, you’re just in the world of ideas, and there’s a distinction between ideas and inspiration. Agnes Martin (painter) reminds me that you can’t have inspiration every day. You have to learn how to handle yourself. Nervous energy is not acceptable and must be avoided. When a day begins with that kind of force, I take long walks to get rid of it.
I’m not too sure about the “nervous energy’ being a problem. The important point is not to get in your own way. Not to have formulas or be afraid of the openness of a blank canvas (or page). Creation as an act of bravery. I like that thought.
On the other end of the spectrum, the painter Susan Rothenberg said that she found it hard to get back to work after moving from NYC to New Mexico. “Then, one day, I suddenly got angry—enough time had passed—and I marched into the studio and set to work.” I personally find anger a good mechanism for breaking through blocks. Especially when a painting begins to look boring, feel clichéd, just doesn’t “do it.”
Then there is the trust that you need to have to make the marks. Joel Shapiro (sculptor) said “Your anxiety builds up to the point where you have no choice. Now, what am I afraid of revealing?” That’s a big factor in making changes, not standing still, not resting in that comfort zone of knowing what works. And not working for a period creates anxiety. Things can percolate from non-activity and that can be good. Yet there is always an inner compulsion, a necessity behind good work.
The painter Robert Mangold is quoted as saying “sometimes, in the studio, you can become too self-absorbed. When I go out and look at other work, I realize the world hasn’t stopped—and I’m motivated.” That is an interesting point, since so much of current art criticism focuses on what it “new.” In fact, we don’t work in a vacuum. Someone on the other side of the road can be doing the same thing without ever communicating with you. Can that be so very bad when it is all about communication anyway. And anyway, “Who’s on first?” or is it “Whose on first.” And that could be a whole other topic so...........
Posted by leya at August 23, 2004 10:52 AM