Sunday, May 3, 2009

Artistic Interpretation

I was just in the studio, adding the final “scrap” to a piece that had already been cut out and arranged. I stamped two figures onto a striped fabric. It didn’t turn out quite the way I had expected. I tried to put on some extra paint, but still wasn’t getting the desired result. I placed the unsatisfactory piece in with the rest of the pieces, and suddenly I saw new meaning.

I did not have complete control over my work. My art did something not expected, and I adapted by coming up with a new meaning for this scrap of fabric.

Does that mean I am less of an artist for not having enough control over my materials? Does it mean that I am more of an artist for being able to interpret new meaning from an “accident”?

What are artists? Do artists inflict their meaning onto others? Are artists the ones that can take an event or an object out of their control and find new meaning in it?

Are artists doers and creators? Are artists seers and interpreters?

Am I making any sense?

5 comments:

Wiggy said...

Kim! Some deep thinking and questions. It is always wonderful when you make a mistake and you have that "ahha" moment and create something from what you thought was a mistake. Yes artists do, create, see and interpret.

p said...

sometimes i wonder 'artists' dont do the whole meaning thing a bit much. you said you found a new meaning for that scrap...saw a new meaning...what did it mean?
i mean....
most of the time my work 'means nothing'. i am putting things together and stop when i like how it feels. art to me is always more about feeling than meaning.
it is just an expression, a doing. it is there to mean whatever someone wants it to mean.

Nellie's Needles said...

"Dynamic Creating" is the term for this happy accident way of creating. For the most part that is the way I make art ... one decision leads to the next. Most often possibilities are revealed that would not have been discovered otherwise.

Kim Hambric said...

Dynamic Creating -- that's it!!! Such a positive, active term. I love it.

ArtPropelled said...

You make perfect sense! Nellie said...possibilities are revealed that would not have been discovered otherwise....that is the part that I love ...the surprises, new ideas and unexpected rewards.