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| Death as a motif (No 10, Hybrid Series), 2011. Ink and coloured pencil on oiled fabriano paper, 28x38cm. |
Many of us struggle everyday with the difficulty of making work and the pertinent questions that often emerge afterwards like: But is it art? [and is it any good?]
“Art really is something very difficult. It is difficult to make, and it is sometimes difficult for the viewer to understand. It is difficult to work out what is art and what is not art. All this can be hard work. Sometimes in recent years I’ve felt that the parameters have changed. It seems too often a luxury product, a weekend hobby. The only question asked is ‘what’s the price?’ When I was studying the stakes seemed higher. Art was challenging, like Kant or Hegel or Derrida. It was something really worth thinking about. A part of it should always include having to scratch your head.”
The simplicity of this statement from a world-renouned artist like, Anselm Kieffer, puts the daily struggle [and joy] of being an artist in perspective. If Kieffer finds art difficult, then there is hope for the rest of us.
Kieffer's words speak to this artist as she has just struggled through an uneasy six month period of making new work. Letting go of the old and, frankly, not knowing where to turn.
Total freefall.
how to emerge?
Back to books, history, textiles, nature and seeing old things in new ways.
Anselm Kieffer Interview Review section, The Guardian, Saturday 19 March 2011.
