I'm in a show next weekend, the "Untapped Emerging Artist Exhibition" at the Artist Project. It's a three day art fair, and there will be various lectures on contemporary art held as well. I received an email today from one of the lecturers who will be doing a talk on beauty in contemporary art. She asked me about the role of beauty in my work. This was my response.
Beauty is undoubtedly central to my approach to art. I have not been an artist all my life, but I have always been a viewer of art. Now as an artist, I relate strongly to the role of the viewer and I believe the use of beauty and an engagement with the ideas of beauty is a seductive way to capture the viewer's attention. Jonathon Lasker writes, "Contemporary culture is oriented toward sensation far more than it is toward beauty. This is very much in keeping with the image of our world: the texture of life is seldom beautiful, although it is usually sensational. It is fast, loud and enervating. [...] If contemporary art cannot provide beauty, than it must come to terms with sensation." But I disagree that we have become numb to beauty in some way, or that beauty lies outside the realm of sensation. On the one hand, I think beauty has an aspect of spectacle to it, a call to be looked at, which is very much symptomatic of our society today. On the other hand, it is also true that beauty is generally a quieter presence, a more contemplative space. But in the midst of a culture seething with the type of sensations evoked by images of violence, disfigurement or disgust, perhaps beauty is a much needed antidote, an escape or refuge from the "fast, loud and enervating" aspects of our life. It seems to me that the experience of beauty is one of the fundamental qualities that make us human, that frankly, despite everything, makes living worthwhile. If art is to capture, reflect on and remind us of all aspects of the human condition, beauty must be an essential part of that endeavor.
The other important aspect of beauty in my work comes from my belief there is an inherent sadness to the experience of beauty. Alexander Nehemas describes beauty as "a promise of happiness", but I think it is more the promise of unhappiness. Beauty is momentary, fleeting, sparking a desire that cannot be fulfilled, creating a longing that can never quite be satisfied in the same way again. My work deals directly with this by virtue of my process. My recent paintings are derived from images taken from fashion magazines. I print fragments of these images with an inkjet printer on a surface to which the ink does not adhere. I photograph the prints as the ink moves and bleeds, as the image dissolves into something new (and "less beautiful"). My paintings are composed from fragments of these photographs, with each painting comprised of one image at different stages of metamorphosis, from one vision of beauty to another.
Beauty is undoubtedly central to my approach to art. I have not been an artist all my life, but I have always been a viewer of art. Now as an artist, I relate strongly to the role of the viewer and I believe the use of beauty and an engagement with the ideas of beauty is a seductive way to capture the viewer's attention. Jonathon Lasker writes, "Contemporary culture is oriented toward sensation far more than it is toward beauty. This is very much in keeping with the image of our world: the texture of life is seldom beautiful, although it is usually sensational. It is fast, loud and enervating. [...] If contemporary art cannot provide beauty, than it must come to terms with sensation." But I disagree that we have become numb to beauty in some way, or that beauty lies outside the realm of sensation. On the one hand, I think beauty has an aspect of spectacle to it, a call to be looked at, which is very much symptomatic of our society today. On the other hand, it is also true that beauty is generally a quieter presence, a more contemplative space. But in the midst of a culture seething with the type of sensations evoked by images of violence, disfigurement or disgust, perhaps beauty is a much needed antidote, an escape or refuge from the "fast, loud and enervating" aspects of our life. It seems to me that the experience of beauty is one of the fundamental qualities that make us human, that frankly, despite everything, makes living worthwhile. If art is to capture, reflect on and remind us of all aspects of the human condition, beauty must be an essential part of that endeavor.
The other important aspect of beauty in my work comes from my belief there is an inherent sadness to the experience of beauty. Alexander Nehemas describes beauty as "a promise of happiness", but I think it is more the promise of unhappiness. Beauty is momentary, fleeting, sparking a desire that cannot be fulfilled, creating a longing that can never quite be satisfied in the same way again. My work deals directly with this by virtue of my process. My recent paintings are derived from images taken from fashion magazines. I print fragments of these images with an inkjet printer on a surface to which the ink does not adhere. I photograph the prints as the ink moves and bleeds, as the image dissolves into something new (and "less beautiful"). My paintings are composed from fragments of these photographs, with each painting comprised of one image at different stages of metamorphosis, from one vision of beauty to another.