When discussing a piece of work, in relation to others, there is a risk of
causing – or adding in some cases – confusion. Particular
associations can emphasise aspects which diminish a viewing experience whilst
others enhance a bland one. Thus, the following series of posts is one I tread
over with care.
I have called this series Noteworthy Artists and Artworks; And, it consists of
six sections (posts). The names of the six posts are as follows:
- Series Breakdown of Noteworthy Artists and Artworks (this one)
- Sol Lewitt and Wall Drawing 164
- Piero Della Francessca with The Flagellation of Christ and Pablo Picasso with Woman at the Toilet
- Anish Kapoor with As if to Celebrate I Discovered a Mountain Blooming with Red Flowers and Barbara Hepworth with Oval Sculpture (No. 2)
- Lawrence Weiner with Taken From the Wind & Bolted to the Ground
- Joel Meyerowitz with Fallen Man
When I say "Artist", I do so in the general sense. The reason why is because
artists tend to produce large and varied bodies of work, and it is fair to say
not everything they do will resonate or be useful (to me). And, identifying the
appropriate works is crucial and sometimes difficult to do. On top of that, by
knowing that, and taking it in to account, I have found it becomes even harder
when trying to separate the wheat from the chaff with regards to experiencing
the work as a viewer and a practitioner. That is because there are artworks
I like to view but have no immediate relevance to my practice and the artwork I
tend to produce and vice versa.
The task of separating the artist from their work can fall one of two ways,
which are:
- The underlying pinning of an artist's practice can be more useful than
any/all artwork produced from it. And;
- (usually a single) work produced by an artist contains elements which are
more interesting/relevant but are by-products of the artist's practice than
the result of the practice.
To reduce the chances of this series becoming a reading-list endurance test, I
have created a total of six posts (including this one). Hopefully, this is small
enough for people to work through in a reasonable time and long enough for it to
give a well-rounded approximation of my practice. I say this because the artists
and artworks included here are not my entire range of reference points. If I
ever did include every one and thing, even I would not want to read it. With
that said, I hope you find the balance to be just right.
As I start to bring this post to a close, I would like to clarify a previous
point. This series is not an exhaustive list nor I have crystallised in any
way. The intent here is to provide a foundation or approximation of where I
think my work grows out from. They (my works) are not islands unto themselves
and, hopefully after reading this, you will agree – perhaps even enjoy
them (more).
Last of all, for the largest gain to be had from this series, I recommend
reading my previous posts. This should give you a solid grounding in my work and
the building blocks upon which I have built this series on top of.