Visual vocabulary
As I continue to draw or create on a daily basis lately, I have been mulling over several questions in my head. What effect do I want my creations to have on the viewer? Am I seeking to engage a conditional response? These questions are part of a bigger thought process of questioning both why I make art and what do I want to achieve by making art?
The answers to these questions are, ultimately, not as important to the consumers of my art as much as they are to me as the maker. It it important to know why I'm doing what I'm doing. The fear arises that I'll continue to make performances/artwork without any basis for their existence and just spin my wheels again like my younger days... making stuff just for the sake of making stuff, rather than making stuff to express a specific view on the world. I've already done accomplishment for the sake of accomplishment and I am familiar with the hollow feeling that goes along with it.
I know some things will make more sense with time, but the impetus needs to be with a clear goal in mind to begin with. I am lately searching for my own visual iconography. I have consumed the visual language of a bunch of different artists... mollycrabapple, Keith Haring, Jules Cheret, Modigliani, Shepard Fairey, Dali and so on. Even if I don't particularly like the art itself, I'm definitely inspired by both the aesthetic individually particular to these artists. I'm also inspired by the narrow, but hugely flexible vocabulary of images they use (i.e. Haring's flat "man" shapes and barking dogs, Crabapple's use of curtains, cats and mermaids, Dali's clocks and landscapes, etc.).
It is easy to get a glance and feel with Google search. Type in an image search for, say, Keith Haring and his aesthetic is front and center.
I am looking for my own vocabulary of visual symbols. I have a few that come to mind... goldfish, kokopelli, hot air balloons, robots, sideshow banners.
I have been considering how I can expand my visual langauage and maybe tie in my mission as a playwright. In my plays I deal with misfits and broken people, often isolated and lost, trying to find some sense of identity, place or purpose. I wonder how I can show this in my visual artworks, too.
The answers to these questions are, ultimately, not as important to the consumers of my art as much as they are to me as the maker. It it important to know why I'm doing what I'm doing. The fear arises that I'll continue to make performances/artwork without any basis for their existence and just spin my wheels again like my younger days... making stuff just for the sake of making stuff, rather than making stuff to express a specific view on the world. I've already done accomplishment for the sake of accomplishment and I am familiar with the hollow feeling that goes along with it.
I know some things will make more sense with time, but the impetus needs to be with a clear goal in mind to begin with. I am lately searching for my own visual iconography. I have consumed the visual language of a bunch of different artists... mollycrabapple, Keith Haring, Jules Cheret, Modigliani, Shepard Fairey, Dali and so on. Even if I don't particularly like the art itself, I'm definitely inspired by both the aesthetic individually particular to these artists. I'm also inspired by the narrow, but hugely flexible vocabulary of images they use (i.e. Haring's flat "man" shapes and barking dogs, Crabapple's use of curtains, cats and mermaids, Dali's clocks and landscapes, etc.).
It is easy to get a glance and feel with Google search. Type in an image search for, say, Keith Haring and his aesthetic is front and center.
I am looking for my own vocabulary of visual symbols. I have a few that come to mind... goldfish, kokopelli, hot air balloons, robots, sideshow banners.
I have been considering how I can expand my visual langauage and maybe tie in my mission as a playwright. In my plays I deal with misfits and broken people, often isolated and lost, trying to find some sense of identity, place or purpose. I wonder how I can show this in my visual artworks, too.