This image, titled, "No Strings Attached" is currently being displayed in the Texas Tech University School of Art 40th Anniversary Alumni Art Show. Taa Daaa. hahaha
Yes, I'm in the show. Everyone who lives within a 60 mile radius of the School was invited. And I do (as I have said in some posts here and there, I am employed by the School of Art - currently am the intermim woodshop supervisor, and a few other hats do I wear as well!)
But none of that is really the subject of this post, except in passing. I was noticing, as I was admiring one of my fine works of art, that even I often have to spend time getting comfortable with some of the pieces I create. And that might be said for quite a few of them, if not most.
Is art a lot like shoes? Does it sometimes look pretty good at first, but not feel so good when you start to wear it? Do you have to get it broken in? And by broken in, I mean, in this case, get the mind broken in, and really used to seeing what's actually there to be seen?
In my art it's true much of the time. Often it seems like the design is somewhat casual to people, as if I didn't really think it through, or whatever. But after a while, they get used to seeing what I have really done with my art, and find that there actually IS something to it. It's not just a bunch of lines and colors. There does seem to be some sort of arrangement to it.
And occasionally someone sees something or some things there that really gets to them. A guy I met years ago, who was in med school, and basically thought I was just some loser artist type living across the street from the woman he and his wife knew (who was a super achiever in law school - more like him and his law school wife) had that experience.
One of my pieces really got to him, probably for the first time in his life. He said it had all the things in it that he had gone through in med school. I hadn't put those in there when I painted it, but it was painted during a really difficult part of my life, physically, mentally, spiritually ... in every way, really.
So, the task is, as always, "How do you get people to slow down long enough to actually LOOK at what you are creating?" For some artists it may not be so important, if their work is more direct. But I suspect that for many artists, they have the same issues that I am relating. Their work has "depth" that often they aren't even aware of. Depth that is waiting for viewers to mine. But getting people to give the work the actual time and space to do that? Not always so easy.
I suspect that my online studio / gallery, which is mostly oriented to the selling of my work, would sell more of it, if I could find a way to get people to stay on my website for more than three mouse clicks. (Isn't that how we measure time now? By mouse clicks and not clock ticks?) I can't say that I don't love computers, though, with 7 websites and this blog! hahaha
But, I wonder if 3 people will read this blog post? Maybe not, but at least it is helping me to get clear about some things. I perhaps need to reorganize some things on some websites. Try to find ways to get visitors to stay just a little bit longer. Slow things down just a little bit, so they don't miss out. I know my art has "stuff goin' on." I can sometimes just look at it for quite a while. I don't need sound or movies, etc.
This can happen for others, too. Back in art school a year or two ago, I had a friend, Salvador Hernandez. He was in school, too, working on his psychology degree. But he was also working for the school. Sometimes on his break, one summer, I remember he would drop over to the art school painting lab to check out what I was working on. He and I would just sit there and look at the huge paintings I had going on! He "got" them. Didn't really need me to explain them at all!
I know there are many people "out there" besides Sal who would, too. Where are you people? I know you all have computers, now. And that got me thinking, too. Where are you, Sal? It's been a few decades!
