Well, it's a photograph actually - from a collection of about 300 I have taken of walls over the last few months.
Sometimes people say to me that they don't understand the language of modern art as if it's some kind of 'secret squirrel club'. Well, I am not sure what there is a great deal to understand and, sometimes, I think that I must live in a parallel universe! This photograph could easily have been of a painting - so what is reality and what is abstract? Is it really so different from the monoprint below this post?
I have decided to stop describing myself as an ‘abstract artist’. I have come to the conclusion that the term doesn’t especially mean or illuminate anything and is a fairly meaningless label. One of my pet hates in life is being put in a box as my immediate and automatic reaction is to get out of it if anyone places me in one. I have also concluded therefore that by describing myself as an ‘abstract artist’ that I am also boxing myself in. We live in an abstract world on all sorts of levels so I feel I am simply reflecting the things that I observe and interest me in life if that makes sense.
When I meet someone new and I am asked what I do for a living, I usually say that I am a painter. The assumption then is that I paint people’s houses so then I have to explain that I paint on canvas and my work is of an abstract nature but I kind of resent having to say this. I feel it doesn’t really describe what I do. I don’t really enjoy trying to describe my work as I am not really sure what it is myself. Words just don’t seem to fit somehow. I think this is because creativity is a language in itself and it is pretty hopeless to try and translate it into words that are often ‘loaded’. Take the term ‘post modern’ for example – what does that really mean? Just as bad – ‘contemporary art’! These terms mean nothing to me in all reality.
I have also decided to avoid debates about what is art and what isn’t. I have been involved in some pretty heated debates about this in the past and I am finding the debate increasingly tedious. Who has the right to say what is art and what isn’t? I am willing to accept anything as a work of art if it is presented as such and that is the end of it as far as I am concerned. How it is was produced and what medium is used means nothing to me. It’s just another box I feel inclined to get out of.
Getting this off my chest helps me to feel free to do whatever I want so I needed to say it. Will it make a difference? To me, yes. At this moment I want to pursue anything that appeals to me in any way that appeals to me. Can you relate to this? Do you find labels a help or a hindrance?
The photo attached to this article was taken at Alicante Marina recently. It has been cropped to make it square but not manipulated in any way. What is it? I don’t know and it doesn’t seem to matter – it just is and I like it.
I think I have taken about 300 photos of crumbling walls, posters, graffiti and various textures over the last few weeks. It's all part of my search for new sources of inspiration. One of my objectives is to paint in a broader range of colours than the last few years and I am finding photographs a big help.
