Art Speaking For Itself

I've always had a problem showing my work because all of my paintings never really had a collective theme or style. I was all over the place, and I never saw anything wrong with that. Every time I had a show people asked me why I didn't have a series and really, I couldn't understand why I should. Every time I went to the canvas I was hoping to accomplish something else. I'd tell people that I had no "Style". I found more excitement and reward in painting whatever crossed my mind. I think now, that I've been painting only for me.

There's nothing wrong with painting for yourself, you have to love what you do, but it's only half of the artists job. While I'm drawing or painting, and up until I'm done; it's all for me. The experience of making each piece is very personal and offers me certain things in life that I can't really explain, but that if I didn't have, would leave me unbalanced and unfulfilled. Unfortunately, I was still unfulfilled because all these pieces tended to stay in my home with me.

Once I'm done painting, they're not mine anymore. My part of the job is done, now the artwork needs to be seen. Artists have very basic purposes in this world. We paint,draw,sculpt, compose music or what have you, and if we intend to or not, these works reflect our times and generally sync up with the rest of the world. We speak for what the people want or are afraid of, what we dream about or how pop culture is changing us. It's all there in well done artwork. But because I never focussed long enough for a series or a "message", I was leaving everyone else out of the process, and the other half of the work wasn't being done.

I thought of being in their shoes and going to a show like I use to have, looking at dozens of paintings with no common link. It's confusing, and like the paintings from each other, I think I'd feel separate from the work. With a series, you feel like you're part of something somehow. Each pieces helps to tell the overall story in its own way, and by seeing them all there, that you understand what you're looking at, and then you can take something away from that (whether or not you take one home). We're not always so easy to understand, but our work is meant to speak for us, and all these years I've been making that very difficult on my work.

I've known in some way that I've been lacking in this field with my work, but rather than do something about it, I defended it, saying that it afforded more opportunity not to stick to one style. I don't think I will stick to one style forever, or one theme, but having a series now, I can see the benefit. It helps tell the story. It gives me a much better chance of having an effect through my art, and without it, I don't think people were able to connect well with my art or with me as an artist. And it made them have to put more effort in understanding the work, and that's my job.

I'm excited about this series. Each piece tells the story in it's own way and together, they all help to tell it for me. At the shows I've had so far, I've explained a lot, and I've loved talking about the series with people, but I've also noticed that with enough of the pieces next to each other, and with the right presentation, people can find it all out for themselves. That's the art speaking for itself, and that has been a rarity for me.

There are many artists who have always done this and might read this and wonder where the mystery lies with this, but for me, this has been one of my big battles and learning experiences, and this is all new to me. I can finally see the power of a series in telling one story with each little chapter, and I have to say, when it's up and people are looking at them and talking to me, it's exciting and rewarding to hear them explain the series to me. When they can tell me what the pieces mean, I feel I've done my job well.