Rugged Individualism
I fear the ideas that once made art great are fading in their influence, and how art is understood today has detrimentally changed. Since the 60s when I began creating art seriously, I have noticed a major assault on the concept of art as an object of subjective expression, as an object that is unique and one-of-a-kind and as an object that is individualized through the creativity of the soul of an artist and her individualistic spirit. It could be because art since the 60s seems to be defined as the new object to be collected. But now, this "object to be collected" represents not the heart and soul of an individual but instead, it represents the new and the trendy, the "what's in" crowd. Art today represents the trendy fads of a collective or a group of idealistic people. The art object today is no longer a unique object. Art today has become a grey mass that represents the sold souls who live in the grey matter that the "extremes" define as the collective or collective good.
The collective good, middle souls all carry the same morals, ideals, and values. All are grey. The focus of folks in the grey middle is on trendy contemporary ideals and values that are fleeting and constantly changing. They are easily manipulated by a group thinking mentality.
I generally create works in a series. The souls in my series, The Struggle for the Soul," are souls who actually live in the middle and that are anything but grey. The middle that I create is based on philosophical thinking that creates a solid foundation for future thinking and concept making. The souls in my colorful middle wouldn't dream of surrendering their spirit or their soul to another. The middle that I work with builds upon the deeper aspects of values, aesthetics, morals, ethics and the self, the soul.
My middle is shaped by individualized philosophical concepts that work for the unique self that the artist is, and the folks in the middle are. Their sense of life, their unique self, like a work of art is what I am trying to capture in this series, "The Struggle for the Soul," and the unique work that the artist creates.
The folks in my middle with many colors are yearning to be free. Those that live in the middle have personal stories that are steeped in history and they are without a doubt different from what came before them. What are the characteristics of those in the middle? They will not surrender their soul. They will strive for freedom in everything they do. Why? Because they know the difference between freedom and slavery.
For me, the value of art has always been the very intimate special space between the artist's soul and the object that she's creating. Within that special space the artist is free. The seduction of freedom, between the artist and the object is always tangible and very real. So much so that when the viewer first approaches a creative object, she feels it, sees it and experiences it. This marvelous exchange between the object and the soul is what is disappearing in art today.
In this series, "Rugged Individualism," I am creating souls and talking about the very tangible and very real experience of the soul and the seductive act of creating that object. I am creating individuals who live their lives with this unique individualized philosophy and their love for the freedom that is experienced in this very seductive space. It is this freedom that has disappeared in contemporary artwork, this seductive space that is very hard to find today in art objects.