My wife is on quite a roll. She's done dozens of paintings since she retired, and now all but four of them are in one of the three showings she has simultaneously.
Harriet works in a variety of styles, and I don't respond to all of them. Her favorite style may be one I don't respond to, art with a clear socio-political or even personal message. I don't like art with a message -- or rather, I think the message should come in the back door, so to speak. I think the artist should be like a magician and the good ones don't let us see how they do the trick.
My favorite painting of hers is called Love At Ground Zero after my novel. Happily it is her only painting not for sale.
It's been interesting to watch Harriet struggle with rejection. This is a ritual all artists go through. I've ever heard her ask herself, Should I even try? Fortunately, she gets to work on a new painting.
A very different kind of frustration comes from early success, as I had, and subsequent less interest in later work that you know is superior.
In the end, Salinger is right about artists: "An artist's only concern is to shoot for some kind of perfection, and on his own terms, not anyone else's."
No comments:
Post a Comment