"ART ISN'T EASY"
True that. Matthew Higgs is a genius.
Perfect example of taking something complex and saying it simply. That's the vocation of an artist--to think, and to act when that thinking's still thinking.
Matthew Higgs, a well-established artist, writer and curator, walked in the room, and his down-to-earth, "If you're ever in New York, please stop by White Columns" attitude sparked an excitement in me to share my ideas about what I'm doing in my artwork.
I've come to realize that ideas are the backbone, the heartbeat, and the forefront of what makes good art difficult (and worthwhile). If you don't have an idea, then you've got nothing.
I watched a peer of mine talk about his idea on painting, and it was so enlightening because I realized that a human being can be identified by his/her ideas (if they stick out as meaningful). I remember when this young man was going up for his BFA and everyone was talking about his art pieces. Why? Because he talked about them so much. And, he did them. Simple, right?
It's so true--we as artists are thinkers. Art has become a philosophy, a workshop for ideas that can change individuals who can change the world. And, if these ideas we're coming up with aren't shared, then what's the point? I find that sometimes I have an idea and want to keep it bottled up, but that's really not the artist's prerogative, is it? To make truly meaningful things, I must share what I am grappling with, understand it at different angles (through conversation with other people), and I must do my ideas. Nothing less. I am just one person, but if I understand that there's this community of thinking people right next to my just one person, then I can start bouncing these ideas off them (and hope they wonder about them just as much as I do, and even take them into themselves and use them too). That's what good art's all about. The difficult kind, too. Because, what is easy is rarely worth doing in the long run. "It's the hard that makes it great," as they say. ;)
True that. Matthew Higgs is a genius.
Perfect example of taking something complex and saying it simply. That's the vocation of an artist--to think, and to act when that thinking's still thinking.
Matthew Higgs, a well-established artist, writer and curator, walked in the room, and his down-to-earth, "If you're ever in New York, please stop by White Columns" attitude sparked an excitement in me to share my ideas about what I'm doing in my artwork.
I've come to realize that ideas are the backbone, the heartbeat, and the forefront of what makes good art difficult (and worthwhile). If you don't have an idea, then you've got nothing.
I watched a peer of mine talk about his idea on painting, and it was so enlightening because I realized that a human being can be identified by his/her ideas (if they stick out as meaningful). I remember when this young man was going up for his BFA and everyone was talking about his art pieces. Why? Because he talked about them so much. And, he did them. Simple, right?
It's so true--we as artists are thinkers. Art has become a philosophy, a workshop for ideas that can change individuals who can change the world. And, if these ideas we're coming up with aren't shared, then what's the point? I find that sometimes I have an idea and want to keep it bottled up, but that's really not the artist's prerogative, is it? To make truly meaningful things, I must share what I am grappling with, understand it at different angles (through conversation with other people), and I must do my ideas. Nothing less. I am just one person, but if I understand that there's this community of thinking people right next to my just one person, then I can start bouncing these ideas off them (and hope they wonder about them just as much as I do, and even take them into themselves and use them too). That's what good art's all about. The difficult kind, too. Because, what is easy is rarely worth doing in the long run. "It's the hard that makes it great," as they say. ;)
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