My thoughts are not to be taken too serious, ideas which I ponder on the daily, where do I fit into this whole narrative, do I need to fit in anywhere. I am an immigrant of lost immigrant parents, ancestors who’s journey cross over many continents. I am not from Aotearoa, I am not from Australia of where I was born, I am not Fijian or European as I haven’t spent time there or connected, my ancestors were not fully rooted there, half were taken there, the other travelled to find land.
Art and science
As someone who is in the belief of science I can’t help but ponder on the power of colour as spectrum of light, what is the purpose of light if it wasn’t to be viewed? Why would gold need to shimmer if not to be seen or observed by a viewer? Lapis lazuli be a certain ultramarine blue but not ever to be observed. What is the chemical or even evolutionary purpose of minerals to produce colours if they weren’t to be viewed? Why do they produce and form colour if they are often buried underground? From this can we conclude that life is abundant in the universe, is life vast and ever reaching?
Everything is research
Everything is research to me, from this writing to absolutely everything and anything.
Let me explain, not everything in any universe will be helpful to your specific way of life and making, it’s impossible to learn everything there is, but everything that you encounter, experience, observe and happen to do can be in many forms be turned into research, or open an investigation into the possibilities of thinking about a contextual idea and forming theories to push you and yourself forward.
Every day we are confronted by many events throughout the span of 24 hours, dreams are absolutely included as research, I’ve had many dreams which have elevated my inquiries and opened myself up to possibilities of understanding the physical universe. Unraveling possible ideas, to me, is a form of researching, it may not be the usual ‘type a topic into google and hope that your answer will magically appear’ but a rather connection of lost ideas which are now being able to resurface and become relevant. If it were up to me, I would be referencing my dreams and lost thoughts all the time. I am constantly plucking at my brain trying to remember hidden thoughts or title, almost like cleaning off the fluff of a cardigan or jumper struggling to grasp it. Grabbing onto old memories which I have trouble trying to get to creates a barrier to lost ideas, none the less it creates an opportunity to work those muscles, clinging on to pulling out a memory, deep memories sometimes gets pushed further down into the brain and takes longer to try to remember, over the years I have begun trying some new techniques, it worked once by accident, I was watching a YouTube video of (something which I have forgotten (ironic)) but I was trying to remember a person’s name, I just couldn’t quite get it, then fully by accident the person in the YouTube video was reciting the alphabet, I then tried saying the alphabet to myself, eyes closed, mind shut off from other information, going through the alphabet one letter at a time, I went through it once, I believe a few letters of the name happened to jump out at me, but then I tried again and hoped that something would come out of it, this time I was more focused on the letters which were familiar, and it actually worked. But I wouldn’t say it works for everyone, the interesting this is the fact that I wouldn’t have done that or thought of doing that if it wasn’t for the person in the video counting aloud themselves. There have been many instances similar in forms of accidental research, I hope to use some of these techniques later on, I believe they will be quite useful.
Art
A drawing is the hypothesis to a paintings theory. In art history sketches of works are rare to come by, often lost or disregarded. When these drawings are presented however, they tend to be more engaging, to me, than most of the paintings which accompany them, they show process and thinking, it houses the life of the artist or maker, thinking through decisions and failures, what was focused, notes and other forms of working. Character, movement hold a presence within sketches, a history in the unplanned marks shift my thinking from art to imagining, these falling flat within the polished paintings, sculptures or other forms of work. Ideas flow through drawings, smudged and imperfect they hold their own, it’s almost as if the artist is present within the work, the messiness is comforting with its ‘lived in’ nature.
Good v bad, is there a difference?
My opinions (not to be taken too seriously)
Bad art achieves everything it attempts to say at face value, you don’t necessarily need to dig deeper than what is presented. Good art can be tested and unpacked, it invites audiences to question and become inquisitive. Good art doesn’t always make sense at first glance, it causes you to think about what it is you’re looking at, to unravel it’s deeper meaning, there shouldn’t be one answer but many questions.
Good art is more than what is at face value, it is the ideas which back it, not tending to bedazzle the viewer with technicality, but showing potential and curiosity beyond what may be presented in-front of an audience. We tend to be drawn into the ‘finished’ and the ‘polished’ styles of art which tends to be of representation, it holds quality on the surface but loses something after first glance
Good art should grab that curiosity but also create and manifest curiosity within the viewer, statements and meanings should come out from under what is initially being seen. ‘Bad art’ or low brow art seems to be technically challenging but stop at that, depiction what is infront of a person or created from a collage of images to make a final, these ideas stem mainly from a history of art and documentation, it is not a bad thing to want to develop those techniques but it is good to question what you are making in hopes of pushing further a practice or work. Simple ideas become ‘pretty’ or ‘attractive’ to an uneducated audience such as the ‘regular’ person, someone who doesn’t have their foot in to a knowledge outside of school arts and craft. I have often put down abstract or abstracted styles of art at face value, only after considerable thoughts I realise that it in its self isn’t always bad, I although do not personally like when an artist uses the phrase or similar phrases to “its a comment on ‘bad’ or ‘shitty’ art” it almost feel like a cop out or lack of effort and doesn’t come across always how I believe they imagine it, it most often feels lazy and half-arsed. Some artists of whom I’ve seen this style work is Cat Fooks and after consideration also Stella Corkery
Theories
Art
What is art?
What are Art’s fundamental properties?
Art could be looked at as everything that is considered real but cannot be answered (this does not mean it needs one) with science. Often seen as emotion, personal issues or personal experience, understanding difference and the un real to the current state of knowledge (ideas evolve as science does). Documentation of the real world as not fitting under this idea of art, but personal or emotional issues added to this imagery can be considered art
It can also be an exploration of interpretation of life and reality, many historic paintings of royalty are still art as they are an artists interpretation of the subject matter, botanical illustrations can too be in this category
Art does not tend to seek answers or create a process to necessarily be repeated (unless commenting on this action as it’s function), in science we see hypothesises being formed, answered through scientific methods to finally come to an answer or conclusion. A final conclusion in science can be recreated by anyone with access to the same materials. I’m art there is not a purpose to be reproduced by anyone, unless interpretations from others is the objective, but this can lead into a scientific methodology.
Arts ability to be critiqued and questioned makes it seperate from science, it does have a right or wrong answer, people’s personal view points and opinions come in to play, every one can have a different answer or interpretation to a work of art and not be wrong.
Types of art
-art as music or sound
*songs
*any rhythmic string of sounds (man made or non man made)
-art as performance
*dance
*acting
* using the body as a form of communication (some languages may be considered a performance/art) and expression
-art as object or image
*painting
*sculpture
*new materiality
*understanding materiality
*projection (2d art)
*photo and video art (creative [meaning is flexible])
*indigenous (weaving, carving, printing, artifacts ect.)
-art as idea or imagination
*dreams
*fairy tale stories
* religion
*stories / books
*non existent / proven ideas (eg. Aliens or ‘monsters’ [from mythology<relating to religion>])
Llenyd Price 