Work on your Life

A friend sent me a message today asking about a quote that I had mentioned to her in past and it seemed like a good one to mention in this blog...

"If you want to work on your Art, work on your own Life" -Chekhov

Competition & Questions

I mentioned in the past that there is more competition at the bottom than there is at the top.....  People who are at the top of their field work with internal questions rather than external influences. It is what I am trying to get students to to when pushing therm towards a personal solution.

People are always asking How certain results are obtained seldom Why. The first query stems from the wish to do likewise, a feeling or wish to emulate; the second wishes to understand the motive that prompted the act - the desire behind it. In other words, inspiration, not information is the force behind all creative acts. -Man Ray

Refining Images

Refining images is very much like making changes in your life..... It is not so much about what you need to do as it is deciding what you can do without....

The Art Market

The art market is always like a saturated housing market, there are more sellers than buyers.  What sells is the cheapest and the best.... just remember, that there is more competition at the bottom than there is at the top!

Accidents

One of my students had taken a photo and really liked the image, however, dismissed the image because it was an accident and therefore not valid. My reply was, "that there are many kids in this world who are accidents, however, still delights (and great accomplishments) to their parents. Many of the great advances in human civilization are the result of pure accident and their discovery is rewarded with a prize. Learn to appreciate and accept the accidents that come your way.

"A discovery is said to be an accident meeting a prepared mind." - Albert von Szent-Gyorgyi

Great Work

Most of the great work that I have seen has very little to do with extraordinary technique. It is usually simple technique combined with getting access. Access can be gained through connections, personality, or tenacity, but it can be achieved. As Robert Henri said in the Art Spirit, "One of the things that interests people the least is technique; show them your deductions."

Getting Work...

Most people go about getting work the wrong way...... They look at the market to determine what to do rather than creating the work and finding the market.  The first approach is a good business plan; it is safe, it is logical. Thinking is logical.... it is the the opposite of creativity.  The creative individual must navigate from an internal compass that lies within.....

Creative People

An Art Director that I knew once commented that, "Creative people never want to work on the project that you give them, they always want to do their own thing.... Usually when you ask them what that is, they haven't a clue...." There is a lot to learn from this tidbit. As a creative entity you need to define who you are!

Conversations.....

“There are moments in our lives, there are moments in a day, when we seem to see beyond the usual. Such are the moments of our greatest happiness. Such are the moments of our greatest wisdom.  If one could but recall his vision by some sort of sign.  It was in this hope that the arts were invented.  Sign-posts on the way to what may be. Sign-pots toward a greater knowledge.” –Robert Henri

The quote from the American painter Robert Henri opens his book, The Art Spirit; which to this day is the most influential work in my life as an artist. Photographs can record a specific site, document events in our lives, catalog the articles that make up the world, and let us see what is not visible to the naked eye. While the photograph from its earliest beginnings has the ability to render the visible, its strength comes from the ability of the artist to make that which is not seen visible.