play, paint…reply to Mathias re ‘trying to live better lives together’..
Hello Mathias,
Thank you thank you for this and for your voice and unknowing and for being the reluctant academic. You capture all this and impossible realistic oppositions of thought and being that truly exist side by side.
I have not studied at a university for a while but what you say resonates in my work and ways of being.
As an artist who created PaDA ( not DADA) where painting is a democratic act…. In a world of horrors the mere banality of using paint/ or engaging in creative activity becomes a vital mirror to who we are. Dada manifested its voice totally the horrors of war and fascism etc and we are in similar times.
And the brush/ painting/ being an artist can be argued as true rebellion .. ( reluctantly!) …against the systems we are pressured to live in. It’s not a choice though… being an artist isn’t a choice and if we made work directly about this then it may seem trite….
Which brings me to play ….its not a choice but a way of living. And it seems the balance of knowing and doing and connecting mirrors painting in that excellent painting always carries with it the other… the unsaid, the subconscious(?)… so we may se a painting of a kettle.. yet the painting may be amazing because it carries the Other.. the dance with the material, the liaising and foxtrot, the samba and rave we have with the material of paint so it also takes with it a bit of us as well.
Expand the whole process side of painting and Making into the Doing and the Being. PaDA became the letting go of authorship, of the role of a solitary artist etc etc and so we begin to paint together. And I see people try.. they Try.. and they see what they have painted… the mark they have made with a silly brush and colour of paint.. they see their mark matters.. the mark they made with a colour they have chosen and in a size they thought they could never make…exists and not only does it exist but it is inportant… it becomes a way of creating depth and meaning to the existing paint/ing. Without that mark… without that input the work could be offered as a singular interpretation, or message of who we are at this moment. As soon as someone else adds their Bit,,,, and more people.. the work becomes a pure snapshot of time.. a capture of context…a rich visual feast. It also becomes something I could. Ever make on my own because I could never knowingly make a mark like that.. I could never paint a mark the same way as someone else can.
So the work.. the work becomes a rich and incredibly vital piece of work that shows us who we are and.. the context of the world we live in.
Working like this as well, I have to let go. I have created 3d visual responses to place and space and context and pushed this process to include initial visit and idea through to making and installing … through the panic and desperate juggling… to bring the work to a ( my) it’s logical ( visually so) conclusion ( for now). It made the process ( of making a painting/ artworks) bigger and public. A beautiful aspect of this of course was/ is that what we Think of will always Look very different once we see it.. so there is always going to be the realisation that when the work is installed it “doesn’t work”! … and yet everyone is looking because it’s in a public space.. and I’ve only got two days left … and what am I going to do.. and .. it’s just rubbish… etc etc.. but I always work it out. It is what it is. The vulnerability.. the public vulnerability … is the absolute beautiful moment of sharing a possible failure. It shares who we all are.
( I try to remember that this is always part of the work… and try not to completely dissolve into negative thought systems!).
But this is painful , real and beautiful.
When the work is made , it is Given to the place. It becomes an event … that lasts just as long as it is wanted / exhibited.. and once it’s over it leaves. By giving the work to context of place, space, people, time.. the meaning is localised and specific.. some kind of magic happens.. it always does… and can never be repeated in the same way again.
Oh
I’ve just remembered this is in the Comments !
Why do I share this with you Mathias after reading your words above?
Play..
Because to me , the magical whimseyness of all play happens when we paint, when we make, when we are brave enough to take that Brish, choose that colour, make that mark.
If my method of making work is by play.. and it is absolutely authentic and I have always made bia a Play methodology .. then we can create spaces for others to play by making as well. “Workshops” ( horrible word) that facilitate equitable access to trying out ideas, having a go, finding out, discovery, hyper focus, working alone or together, feeling safe to try and Be, seeing and feeling what can be and .. having fun, enjoying.. but with the utmost seriousness of the pursuit of learning by doing…. and living by using a bit of color and print and make and skip and hop and a jump … with joy. To be brave.
Thank you for providing a space for me to write this Mathias. I think I can write and express with words not when I sit at a table… I’ll find what works as with most things the best ways to engage with ways to write / teach/ paint/ dance/ … I will have to find my own way 🙂
( and I have more!) the wonderful neuro diverse parallels :
‘Being open and receptive to joy is surely the very opposite of having to watch and monitor our behaviour to ensure we are making just the right impression on others, when we are doing that work of self-display before calculating eyes’ (Segal, 2018)
Reminds me of masking.
I know that Counterplay was the most natural and loving environment ( all day )and also the most terrifying ( outside of the schedule). I think this quote matches this. But … haha! This is probably for another comment!
As always Thank you.
It sounds simple doesn’t it… the world..…needs… love, kindness, generosity of spirit , care .. and courage to Be….yet these seemingly most simple of traits seem the most difficult to live by
