I visited the Lawndale Art Center this week to scope out the gallery where I will be having my show in August. I'm a planner (I even have a degree in planning. Unused to this day!) and in order to calm my nerves, I tend to analyze, over analyze and plan every minute detail of any project I undertake. My husband says that I would be great at planning military battles, but I'm just not into that. I'm more into planning vacations and such.
What I love most about Lawndale is that I never know what to expect when I visit. Invariably there is a video on nonstop loop that must annoy the bejesus out of the staff. The other art though is probably not what your grandmother would consider art, meaning that it is challenging and rarely involves traditional paintings. This worries me a bit. While I don't consider my paintings traditional, next to most of shows I have seen at Lawndale, my paintings seem pretty "normal." The last thing I want to present is the most boring show in Lawndale history. At the same time, I did propose a show of paintings. I guess my challenge is to remain true to my original intention but push what I am doing a little further. It's really exciting to think about the possibilities!
If you want to push what you're doing a little further for yourself, fine. But I get a sense that you feel that you have be different somehow because that's what's you think is expected. I hope you will try to please yourself rather than the "imaginary other".(JRB)
ReplyDeleteVery good point and well taken. That is definitely something I worry about - changing my work so that I am doing what I think someone else wants because that is a losing battle. I think it is more than that. This morning I was daydreaming during a workshop and realized that _I_ am bored with what I am working on right now. And if I'm bored with it, it's going to be boring! I'm still entranced by lonely old houses, but am thinking of new approaches to constructing my paintings and ways of expressing the mystery that keeps me so interested in them. I appreciate your concern, dear reader.
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