Paper mosaics
Saturday, 25 April 2009
I am not very interested in my own art. I love making it, but as soon as it is finished most of it means little to nothing to me anymore. This attitude shows in the work, of course. Several people have said this to me. But so far I have not been able to change this. It is even worse: most of the time I don’t even want to change it.
Feeling the creative force going through me, through my hands, my mind and sometimes my whole body, is basically what drives me to draw and write. And maybe some curiosity about what will come out of the process.
I have been watching the video of the performance of Susan Boyle in ”Britain’s got talent” at least 25 times in the past few days. I think it is indeed a Wake up call, as one of the members in the jury said in her comment. But it is more than that. To see somebody singing (creating) at the top of her ability for the first time in her life, and even going beyond that, is one of the most beautiful things I can imagine. I find it extremely inspiring to watch this.
In our society results are all what that counts. But fulfilment comes from the work, not from the result. The real joy is the doing, not in having it done or knowing that you did it.
I sometimes get in discussions about money. I don’t make any money with my art. And, of course, there are days when I wish I did. But most of the time I am perfectly happy with my situation. I have more than enough money; money never has been an issue in my life. That is far better than being rich. And the freedom that comes with being an anonymous artist is better probably preferable to having success; I am not sure that success would not go too my head. It will probably change my attitude towards my work, and I don’t think that I want that.
I just made scans of the ”Paper Mosaics” that were not on the site yet. Here is a selection:
The rest can be seen here.
jan
2009-04-25 08:19:41
Gôh, ik vind dit erg mooi, Frits. Mijn houding t.a.v. mijn eigen werk is nèt iets anders. Ik maak wat ik zelf mooi vind om naar te luisteren, dat doe ik na afloop dan ook véélvuldig (tenminste als ik er tevreden over ben). Is dat narcisme? zoja, oké dan maar ;-) het voelen van die creatieve kracht heb ik ook en wat ik meen te herkennen is dat ik ook niet te lang met één bepaald werkstuk bezig kan zijn. Op een gegeven moment verlies ik gewoon mijn interesse, of de “drive” om het af te maken is weg. Zo kom ik af en toe met grote verbazing onvoltooide stukjes op de HD tegen die ik allang vergeten was. Een enkele keer maak ik het dan alsnog af, maar op een héél andere manier dan waarschijnlijk oorspronkelijk mijn bedoeling was.