I find myself in my studio often working on others' work. I mean that their work has become my work, but the start is still their work.
Let me clarify. My 'Unsolicited Collaboration' series begins with another artist's work, and then it is just a process of figuring out how I can make my work fit in with theirs. But I also mean this is the sense of my own work being the base.
A lot of the art that I am creating currently in the studio starts with my own old work, someone else's work, or a scrap from something I am currently in progress with. There is no new, there is no old, there is only art being turned into more art, which then gets recycled into more, new, art. Following me? I get it if you aren't, because I am having a hard time articulating what I am trying to say myself.
I guess it comes down to doubt, which is a stupid thing to be having in my brain, but it is there, and it will always be there. What if I don't create anything new now that I have graduated? What if this is it and when I have used all the old it is over?
But also, what if this is just the phase in which I figure it out, at least a little bit more?
I have been thinking a lot about grad school, being a full time artist, and being a naive little punk. Maybe I am just the type of artist who creates things, destroys said things, and then makes something new out of it? What if I can never sell anything because by the time it is available its been turned into something else? This idea makes me extremely happy actually. I think it is hilarious to think of an artist, who is really well sought after, creating things only to destroy them into something new by the time a collector has a second to see the work.
Destroy them into something new.... think about that for a second.
So here I am, in my studio, sitting at my studio mate's desk, writing this blog post instead of making work. I have been working with others' work all night, but I am unsure about my own.
Maybe I just need that blank sheet of paper. That blank wall to start creating on in order to make my own work. Truly my OWN work.
For more photos of in progress studio work check out my studio page!