sheep -Reading01

I think that I am more interested in last word art rather than first word art, though I think we can’t exist without first word art. Experimentation is an important part of keeping creativity alive, and building new frameworks is important to make art that is surprising. I think of the work first, and decide if I can use a framework to tell it in, but I’d want to have the knowledge to construct my own frameworks if I need to. So for me, I exist believing that first word pieces should come from a place in the heart that is unfulfilled by old frameworks, so the artist has to make something that hasn’t been done before (which is difficult to do). When you are making a last word piece, you need to set the way for some new experimenters to see your work and think of new things to make out of it. And so, because this new piece is the end all to the current discussion of the framework, the important thing is to utilize the framework fully, while ending with some new innovation that people will take as obvious for years and years to come. Building a last word work means cementing into the public lexicon the framework as a foundational material, with which experimenters can use to build new frameworks with. The piece is now a collaboration between the creators of the framework (the first word artists) and the artist creating the work.

I think then that when the SF Director of MOMA says “artists always need to ask themselves ‘what’s my job now’”, he means the important thing is not to sacrifice one’s vision to remain comfortable with the establishment, but approach work not having set in mind if it will innovate or not- rather, if it is meaningful to viewers.