A long overdue sharing about my art... inspirations, ideas, process. Until recently, I hadn't posted more than the occasional update. I found the abundance of posts by everyone about their own art to be too self-important. It wasn't why I was doing art and it was always enough for me to know where it came from, what it means to me and then let people have their own experience of it. However, people frequently ask how my creative ideas/ inspirations/ visions arise; many suggested I write about it.
Then, recently I found myself taken aback when I was questioned by someone: was Imago replicating another Burning Man artist's sculpture? I was disappointed and surprised by the comparison, as the pieces don’t look alike to me (ironically, while I like some of this artist’s work, I find the piece in question dull, and from the only year I wasn't at Burning Man!). I found the suggestion offensive but, on the other hand, it was a useful exchange, as it made me reconsider whether there was value in sharing more about this work which, while personal in inspiration, is something I ultimately express in the public sphere… to be shared with 70,000 others no less.
Living in Asia for 20 years, surrounded by insects and sacred architecture, I know well where my inspirations lie, but from this exchange, I realized that a US city person wouldn’t necessarily perceive contextual influences that are so self-evident to me. While people will see art through their own filters, maybe it wouldn’t be a bad idea to offer commentary, to give a little structure to the experience….
Because I really enjoy coming to a piece of art and having my own experience of it first, then following up ollowed by reading the artist's statement and then seeing it through the artist’s lens, I think that sharing more than the odd updates about my art can be interesting, not necessarily a sign of utter self-absorption. So, in between travel and working on a new project, I’ll going to do a post series of paragraphs and images about my art involvements: art that inspired me, especially in Asia; Nature as my muse; the nudges and sparks that fertilized the growing interest in making Playa art in the first place.
