What is Important?

Chuck E. Bloom

“When an artist explains what he is doing, he usually has to do one of two things:

Either scrap what he has explained, or make his work fit in with the explanation.”

(Alexander Calder)

What is important to you?

Does knowing that I was born in 1969 make the reds more vibrant?

Does knowing about my post-graduate education in art make a line more a line?

Will knowing my philosophical leanings make you like my art more or will it make you hate me? Should I care?

How long did it take? No artist ever thought their painting, symphony or novel could not be improved. No painting or drawing is ever finished. So, how long did it take? Forever.

Where do I get my ideas? They come from the ether and the darkness of night. They grow out of the fecund earth of a forest in autumn. They arrive on the seeds of dandelions blown high into the blue sky by chinook winds in July.

Do you need me to tell you a story or can you weave your own narrative out of a tableau of visual stimuli? Which sounds like more fun?

Why is there a broken clock? Why isn’t there a carrot in this one? What is the significance of that doorway? What do you THINK?

How come there are no people? Do you want this to be someone else’s story or do you want it to be your own?

“You shouldn't have to justify your work.” (Judy Chicago)

Ask what you are bringing to this experience.

What filters are you applying to your perception of art?

Does the death of an uncle you never knew muddy the reds?

You love this painting? I painted it in the nude. Do you still love it? Do you love it more? Why?

Where I was born, where I have been and who I have talked to is less important than what I have done with those experiences. Every piece of art is a culmination of every moment prior coalesced in a drop of the soul on the tip of a brush.

“Nothing is important . . . so everything is important.” (Keith Haring)