In particular, your phrase “doing something” has real resonance with me–even though I’m not an artist, I’m interested in the question of what Art “does” and where exactly that doing occurs. As it happens, John Berger has an essay called “The Work of Art” (in his Selected Essays–though ostensibly an unhappy review of a book called Art History and Class Consciousness, Berger concludes with a description of “art as a potential model of freedom” as “the will to push” (itself a nice phrase). At least as I understand your phrase “doing something,” it seems that Berger is speaking to that dynamic.

Here’s how Berger describes the interaction of artist with his/her materials:

“When a painter is working, he is aware of the means which are available to him–these include his materials, the style he inherits, the conventions he must obey, his prescribed or freely chosen subject matter–as constituting both an opportunity and a restraint. By working and using the opportunity he becomes conscious of some of its limits. These limits challenge him, at either an artisanal, a magical or an imaginative level. He pushes against one or several of them. According to his character and historical situation, the result of his pushing varies from a barely discernible variation of a convention–changing no more than the individual voice of a singer changes a melody–to a fully original discovery, a breakthrough. [. . . . This will to push] is intrinsic to the activity of rendering the absent present, of cheating the visible, of making images.

Ideology partly determines the finished result, but it does not determine the energy flowing through the current. And it is with this energy that the spectator identifies. Every image used by a spectator is a going further than he could have achieved alone, towards a prey, a Madonna, a sexual pleasure, a landscape, a face, a different world.” (434-435)

Thanks for the kind words. Most people thought the beams were part of an incomplete construction project. Some thought it was a tool for fundraising… at the opening several people stuck money into the lines I cut out. I, of course, pocketed the money as donations to the artist!

Eventually I think people came to understand – to some degree – what I was trying to do with the piece. I think it got people to look at that specific space in a new way. At least, I hope so!

Quite possibly we – humans – are hardwired to relate to images of real things hence the popularity of recognizable subject matter. Those of us who favour abstraction may well feel on the fringe, and understandably so. We’re outnumbered, at least that’s the case in the small West Australian town I live in. I believe that pure abstraction is not easy in the same way that swimming against a current is not easy. If we have commitment to our practices, though it may sometimes falter, it will in the long run keep us going.

Regarding what abstraction contributes to society, what value does it add? Well, again, we may be hardwired to make marks, to express ourselves. Yet, we live in an overly-managed and administered culture which pushes other values, namely: If we can’t see it, it’s not there. If we can’t measure it, it’s not real. If we can’t make money from it, it’s not worthy. These thoughts can silently creep into our minds and sabotage the creative side of our selves. By being committed to pure abstraction, in a way we are engaging in a resistant act, dare I say a political one.

Thanks

Beth Kirkland

I was sitting down to watch my UK Wildcats play basketball online and your comment came through. I have a few minutes before tip-off so I’d like to respond.

First, thanks for the comment. I’ll address each of your points:

“Are you saying that art can’t be beautiful and pleasurable?”

I think what I’m wondering about is if art can be just beautiful and pleasurable. Or, should it be just beautiful and pleasurable? Should it do more than that? I strive for beauty in my work, but I also want more from it.

“If something evokes a reaction it is doing something and is contributing to the art world.”

But what is it contributing, and is that enough of a contribution to make it worthwhile?

“I’m not sure what your struggle is with your current abstraction work. All your work is abstract.”

Some of it does more than others. I think my holes in wood work does the most of everything I’ve made.

“Easy is copying or making reproductions. As long as you are making original work I’m not sure what is so easy about it.”

Perhaps “easier” should have been my word choice…

“Color isn’t easy.”

For the artist, no doubt you are correct. But for the viewer, it’s much easier, I think.

Thanks again!