Making art.

When I talk about art I mean something very specific. I reject the modernist tendency to simply broaden the concept of art to include just about everything. I also reject a lot of modernist art as being just jokes, or the works of charlatans.

I enjoy art, and I find it important that art is made. But I don’t need it to be the only thing in the world. I like to be entertained as well. And I don’t think entertainment needs to be considered art to be respected. It deserves respect in its own way. Art is something else.

When I am making art, I feel like a scientist. I am exploring. Exploring a subject. And the terrain where I do my explorations is my soul. Not because I think my person is important in the art work. But because my body is the thing I have at my disposal to explore the cosmos, being, existence.

My body is not a neutral tool, like a telescope or a microscope. In fact, the way in which my body responds to stimuli is the most important source of data that informs my work. Of course, “the way my body responds to stimuli” is everything. It is the only thing that exists. Or that we know that exists. Things that we do not perceive do not exist.

The exploration that the creation of art is, then, involves minute probing for unusual, or otherwise remarkable perceptions. Asking the question How do I respond to this? And then asking the question again No, how do I really respond to this?. Until a phenomenon is discovered that reveals something. Or that has the potential to reveal something.

Art is a way to deeper understand reality. A way not encumbered by the rules that slow down science. An artist can explore much further and much deeper, much faster, following intuition. And the results of the research don’t need to be finished, or even analyzed, because the viewer always continues the exploration when interacting with the work.

Art is also hard work. And a lot of it is just getting things done, technical things, craft things. Only a part of the work involves the deep exploration described above. It’s an essential part, and one that sets art apart from everything else for me. But it would not be bearable to do this for extended periods of time. Much like the experience of artistic beauty, does it need to happen in small doses. Too much and I faint.