Monday, February 11, 2008

Inspiration and dreams

”The seed of your next art work lies embedded in the imperfections of your current piece. Such imperfections (or mistakes, if you’re feeling particularly depressed about them today) are your guides - valuable, reliable, objective, non-judgemental guides to matters you need to reconsider or develop further.” - David Bayles and Ted Orland.

This quote is so true. Today I'm thinking of the work I've made to date, what went well, what I've struggled to express, and where I want to take my work next this year.
Not just what I want to say... there are heaps of ideas around that, bubbling up all the time - but how BEST to express them and what path I want to take next.

I'm mentally reviewing the drawings and asking myself whether I've described the ideas well enough; if having two threads to this show 'Beyond Words' is fragmenting or distracting from the ideas I had originally, and if I should make ONE MORE large work and see if I can travel further with it.

I feel vulnerable about this work too - it's close to my heart and so it lays me bare a bit.

I've been thinking a bit about dreams recently - both kinds. Waking dreams, and sleeping dreams. I reread 'Longing' recently and I'm walking about with the mantle of it still over me. Such beautiful language - such brutal truth.
We each have a personal Patagonia - a place we imagine is our 'fresh start' we want to get to - as an artist it's the beginning of each new project.

I went to the Sleep Wake performance on the weekend. It was full of weird and wonderful imagery - dreamscapes made real in a minimalist setting with soft reduced colours for costumes and set, reminiscent of waking in the middle of the night and padding through a quiet house. I loved the images of water projected onto 3 surfaces... the swimmer sinking the depths and the huge heartbeat/white noise 'music' score that went with the frenetic nightmare dance piece.

It was inspiring. Why does dance excite me so much ? Something about muscles and taught sinews in motion, balance and counterbalance, the grace and daring of the dancer. Humans are just so beautiful in motion.

When I identify my next project - I'm sure you'll be the first to know.

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