Technical Skills

I've been sitting in the gallery thinking all weekend and have come up with a few thoughts. As I sit with Isa Genzken's sculptures I seem to have slowly put my finger on something I have been or am missing. Part of what was so frustrating about my masters program was realising how unaware I am of art theory. Most art these days is heavy on theory and light on technical skill. I happen to love painting. I am good with my hands. I have a skill and have tried to hone it. But painting in the art world is on a very different level than being overly concerned with a honed technical skill. (Don't get me wrong, I do think that theory has honed skills too, just different ones).


Iza Genzken at the Whitechapel Gallery 

On the other hand, I am also not interested in a pretty painting for the sake of being a pretty painting. I want substance. I craved it after years of technical classes. Visually I want both a balance of technical and a breaking of all the traditional rules (see artist Justin Mortimer). Theoretically, I want some reason for making the work, whether technical (like experimenting with surface) or experiential (like documenting lives in Liberia), or philosophical (like any artist's current Artist Statement).


Justin Mortimer's painting Family Plot 

I am more and more interested in delving into themes and ideas when creating work. I want to do a series related to the ever present Facebook in relation to identity. Wow, I am sounding remotely art-speak. I think where my failing comes in are from a lack of understanding, interest, and involvement in current art theory and its consequent practice. It depresses me when it seems so far away from what I am aiming to do, which is paint. Theory often seems overly complex and caught in the cycles of thinking that don't free me as an artist. It was summed up in an email I received back from a friend who is both artist and curator, after I had sent him some job openings for curating and involvement at a more theoretical level in different art venues. I added that I didn't have enough knowledge in art to pursue them myself. To which he emailed back "but you would be an excellent painting instructor in the right situation." And suddenly it dawned on me that is precisely what my strength is. I am a painter. I like the challenge of the technical. I could think of quite a number of very successful artists (in the world of art) who built a career based primarily (but importantly, not entirely) on using that particular strength. It is the opposite of growth to feel discouraged, lost, and inadequate when trying to move forward in anything creative. I may be in a slightly different camp than my theoretical peers, but at least I now know exactly what i need to do.

Carrot and Curry Lentil Soup

This has become our current favourite dinner. It is fast and easy to make. It reminds us of the B'sara soup in Fez, Morocco. It has a lime/olive oil dressing that is spooned onto the top for a tang. YUM! SOUP 1 onion 1 garlic clove 500g carrots, chopped (about 6 generous carrots) 1 potato (sweet or regular) 150 g red lentils (about 3/4 cup) 1 litre vegtable stock 1 tablespoon mild curry paste salt & pepper TOPPING 4 tablespoons olive oil 1 lime, juice and zest Fry onion and garlic. Add the rest of soup ingredients. Cook for 20-25 minutes. Puree. Mix topping ingredients in a small bowl. Spoon on top of soup.

Michael Jackson Wake

Late Friday night I wandered down to Trafalgar Square in London, UK, and found crowds of young people gathered in a wake for Michael Jackson. Throngs of people came and went while the crowd would start singing one of his songs only to have it die off a few lines later. Up against the gate of the National Gallery a candlelight shrine had begun as people came and read the messages and lit candles. I love the way that dog is lit up in the picture above. Another shot of the square. I noticed the police quietly milling around just to make sure that nothing went wrong. What a nightmare job for them.

On Learning

"Emotions and motivations are also fundamental to learning. Strong emotion connected with an experience helps the brain store information in a way that is more accessible and more easily retrieved. Too much stress, on the other hand, can result in reduced blood flow to the frontal lobes, impairing the ability to think and remember clearly. Taking pleasure in a task is an especially good way to learn well. Our brains release a neuro-transmitter called dopamine in anticipation of the pleasure we expect to derive from a particular activity. The dopamine motivates us, increasing our energy and drive and encouraging us to engage in the activity. If our brain's expectations of pleasure in a certain activity is met, dopamine levels remain elevated. If the pleasure enjoyed is even greater that predicted, dopamine levels are increased and we engage even more persistently in the activity. Conversely, if the activity is less pleasurable than anticipated, dopamine levels drop sharply." Daniel Tammet, Embracing the Wide Sky: A Tour Across the Horizons of the Human Mind

Working Art

I have been working at a gallery invigilating this week. Yes, this is the same gallery I worked at as a grad student in London. I had reapplied a few months ago when they were hiring 30 people and wasn't even shortlisted. I later learned 700 people applied. Such is the current job situation in London.

Despite this I found out through the grape vine they were having trouble filling shifts. I called and now I am working odd shifts here and there - as much or as little as I like. Conveniently it is very close to my studio. What is interesting is that I now find myself sitting in rooms full of very avant-garde, post-modern sculpture, the kind that I don't actually understand (and as a result have a hard time appreciating). Perhaps this is my chance to engage it and try to understand where art has come from to bring it to this present day work. The gallery is a large historical gallery that consists of 9 main rooms, an auditorium, cafe, restaurant, archives library, and book shop. I spend a half hour in each room rotating around with other staff. One of my favourite rooms is a display of early purchases made by the British Council of now well known artists. The pieces were bought early in their careers and the prices they were bought at are shockingly low when viewing their careers nowadays. A Damien Hirst dot painting (right) was bought for £8500 in 1994 (one of the most expensive aquisitions in the show). This is the artist who made headlines at the beginning of the current recession for having sold £111 million at a single auction. Some of the paintings were particularly striking. I was most riveted by Frank Auerbach's painting, The Camden Theatre (below). It sold in for £1800 in 1976. Some works sold for as low as £54. An early Lucien Freud sold for only £157. It all seems rather inspiring. The impression I have always had in London is that these stars were stars while still doing their graduate work at school and they then easily stepped on the fast train to mega-success as soon as they graduated. I don't know how that translates to my own practice, but I was left feeling really good about my own art.

Man Found Dead Mouse in Malt Loaf

Click here for the BBC story.