Documenting Time

My art does not follow a linear path. I do not know how much time a piece will take. It often has its own designs, greater than my own. And I have become fascinated with this truth as an element of the creative process - recorded history as part of the art.

As I worked on Unforgotten I, with its layers of historical and vintage materials, I knew I wanted to capture and quantify time, if possible. This first attempt (above) is a fraction of my intent, but it’s a start.

Given the stark contrast of the content and type of materials used against the botanical nature of the finished piece, I added text to the book to provide context.

I led with this introduction to the Unforgotten series taken from “Unforgotten”

“I… invite beauty and discomfort into a conversation. What will our human existence leave for future generations? How will the planet respond? What ghosts will we leave in our past, and which will continue to haunt us? How do we balance the delicate and the substantial? Where do we find lightness in the dark?”

I wanted to add more, and I struggled to find the right words until I finally succumbed to the Roman poet, Horace’s words…

Do not think, just do - so goes a version of the Roman poet Horace’s writings. It’s a troublesome phrase, with implications both useful and potentially catastrophic. Here, in these words, I use it to further stream-of-consciousness writing. In my art, I use it to push me past fear and authorize destruction in the name of creation. I recommend using it with caution - if both things can be held in the same action, doing and caution. It suggests going slowly, but that is not quite right either. Perchance, fearlessly taking action after considering consequences is what I advise. With that being said, with these words, I consider the vintage and repurposed materials on which these “Unforgotten” pieces are built.

[An aside.] I am fascinated by artist and movement manifestos and the effort, ideas, and confidence that go into these declarations, three of which I return to frequently: The Manifestos of the Dada Movement Artists, the Guerrilla Girls Guide to Behaving Badly, and the Rules for Creatives by Sister Corita Kent.

…the Dada movement was born out of a reaction against nationalism and rationalism, which [the Dadaist] artists believed to have caused the First World War. Though the movement was far from coherent, its key figures [including Tristan Tzara] …produced highly political and irreverent works influenced by Cubism, Futurism, and Constructivism. ~ RoyalAcademy.org

“A work of art is never beautiful by decree, objectively, for everyone. Criticism is, therefore, useless; it only exists subjectively, for every individual, and without the slightest general characteristic… Do we make art in order to earn money and keep the dear bourgeoisie happy?.. Every group of artists has ended up at this bank, straddling various comets. Leaving the door open to the possibility of wallowing in comfort and food.” ~ The 2nd Dada Manifesto, Tristan Tzara, 1918 - ArtHistoryArchive.com

a few of my favorite guideposts are collected below from a 2010 Commencement Speech at the School of Art in Chicago - transcripted segments provided by NashvilleFeministArt.Wordpress.com. Full speech is also available on SoundCloud.

…Be impatient. Don't wait for a stamp of approval from the system. Don’t wait around to be asked to dance. Claim your place. Put on your own shows, create your own companies, develop your own projects. To steal a phrase from the Dali Lama, “Be the change you want to see in the world." In other words, Be the artworld you want to take part in.

Be anonymous. You’d be surprised what comes out of your mouth when you’re wearing a gorilla mask. We started wearing them to protect our careers, but soon realized it was one of the secrets of our success. Anonymous free speech is protected by the First Amendment. So join that long line of anonymous masked avengers, like Robin Hood, Batman, and of course, Wonder Woman…

Lead a double life. Be a split personality. Be two, three, four, five artists in one body, like me. I’m an artist / activist / writer / graphic designer. Be a hybrid. Hybrids are so green.

Just do one thing. If it works, do another. If it doesn’t, try it another way. Over time, we promise you it will all add up to something effective and great. Don't be paralyzed because you can't do it all right away. Just keep on chipping away.

Don't make only FINE art. Make some cheap art that can be owned by everyone, like books and movies can…

Give collectors, curators, and museum directors tough love: (Bear with me, this is a long rant.) It’s a pity that public art museums have to compete with billionaire art investors to own significant artworks. And then depend on those investors to donate the works! It's outrageous that art by women and artists of color sold at auction bring 10-20% of the price of art by white males. It's unethical that wealthy art collectors who put lots of money in the art market can then become museum trustees, overseeing museums that in turn validate their investments. What a lousy way to write and preserve our history! If things continue like they’re going, a hundred years from now, many museums will be showing only the white male version of art history, with a few tokens thrown in. You need to keep that from happening. Make sure that museums cast a wider net and collect the real story of our culture. How can you deliver tough love to the art world? Demand ethical standards inside museums. No more insider trading. No more conflicts of interest! No more cookie cutter collections of Art That Costs The Most (Eli Broad, do you hear us?) While you’re at it, give some tough love to design and architecture, where women and people of color face a crushing glass ceiling. And finally, educators out there, don't teach a history constructed by corrupt institutions. Write your own…

Be a feminist. For decades the majority of art school graduates have been women. Your class is no exception. But after school, when you find a too-small number of women and people of color in your field, especially at the top, then you know there's got to be discrimination, conscious or unconscious, going on. Don't just put up with it, say something. We think its ridiculous that so many people who believe in the tenets of feminism have been brainwashed by negative stereotypes in the media and society and refuse to call themselves feminists. And guys, that means you, too. Time to man up, whether you're female, male, trans, etc. and speak up for women. Women's rights, civil rights, and gay, lesbian and trans rights are the great human rights movements of our time. There's still a long way to go.

And last, but not least, be a great ape. In 1917, Franz Kafka wrote a short story titled A Report to An Academy, in which an ape spoke about what it was like to be taken into captivity by a bunch of educated, intellectual types. The published story ends with the ape tamed and broken by the stultified academics. But in an earlier draft, Kafka tells a different story. The ape ends his report by instructing other apes NOT to allow themselves to be tamed. He says instead: "break the bars of your cages, bite a hole through them, squeeze through an opening…and ask yourself where do YOU want to go?” Make that YOUR ending, not the tamed and broken one…

A few of my favorite “10 Rules” (available at Corita.org), which I originally shared in “Aging into the Work”

Rule 1) Find a place you trust and then try trusting it for a while

Rule 4) Consider everything an experiment

Rule 6) Nothing is a mistake. There’s no win and no fail. There’s only make.

Rule 9) Be happy whenever you can manage it. Enjoy yourself. It’s lighter than you think.

Helpful Hints: Always be around. Come or go to everything. Always go to classes. Read anything you can get your hands on. Look at movies carefully, often. Save everything - it might come in handy later. There should be new rules next week.

I have been thinking if I have the impetus and forthrightness to create a personal artist manifesto. If I have the clear and delineated ideals needed to back up such a document. I appreciate an approach from interdisciplinary artist Renato Osoy (a Guatemalan-born artist and educator currently based in Montreal, Canada).

Writing Your Manifesto by Renato Osoy

One technique he uses is the “self-interview”. I am curious about this approach as it touches on another “Pigment Interview” exercise I completed last summer at a Pigment and Place workshop taught by Daniela Naomi Molnar, which I reference at the end of “Time and Place.”

Before attempting such a bold statement of artistic intent, however, I’ll continue to work from a smaller scale - series to series with unedited thoughts (or at least lightly edited), and hope Horace is right.

To each day thereafter,

Jennifer