please be sure to click the links at the end to see what the other team members have to say about the topic :)
this months topic : " Are there specific artists you'd love to collaborate with? And what kinds of things would you like to create with them?"
i've been thinking about this all week, and i've come to the conclusion that i can't say i've ever really wanted to collaborate with somebody when it comes to art.
i think it has something to do with it being the only thing i have (somewhat) control of in my life ;)
my husband used to play in a band.
so many times, when we are talking about art, we compare it to playing music. it isn't the same in a lot of ways (like having to deal with other people) but in some ways it is (like it being something you need to do).
when we talk about that, i always think what a terrible band mate i would make.
i work better alone, when no one is watching, or expecting, or "suggesting" what i should be doing.
i had to share a studio in art school, and i could never work. i had to bring everything home every day.
i also really have trouble doing commissions. it's not that i don't want to make somebody what they want, i just want them to want something that i've already made. and i can't take the "not knowing for sure" if they are going to like it or not. way too much pressure ;)
BUT.
there are times where i want something to put in my art that i don't know how to do myself, and would love to be able to learn from somebody who could. lately, i've been wishing i knew how to weld. i know it wouldn't be a good idea because i know i would probably burn my brand new studio down, but i would still love to know how to do it. just for little bits and bobs to put in my art. i'd also like to know more about firing clay (also a fire hazard for me!) i feel as though if instead of making the things myself and using part of what someone else has made, it really wouldn't be mine...
is that selfish?
i have seen people who can collaborate and do it so well.
herakut are fantastic collaborators! (hera and akut...they put their names together) they must get on VERY well to be able to do what they do. i really couldn't imagine working that closely all the time with someone else. but it definitely works for them!
see what the other team members have to say (they must be more collaboration-related posts than mine! lol!)
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4 comments:
I have to agree with you. There are some processes I've love to learn but I mostly want to be left alone to create how I want. I'm happy that way!
hehe. great post Susan.
I don't know if iI would want to work with someone 24/7 on something - would depend on the person I guess, but maybe to have pieces of their art, to incorporate as I see fit in mine. Leaving me in control, like you said :)
My interpretation of collaboration doesn't involve being dictated to by another artist. It's always been very open. That said though most of the artists I have collaborated with shared a similar aesthetic to mine.
There was never an issue of who was in control, and we didn't have expectations of how something should turn out simply because we knew where each other were coming from and what direction we were going in.. and we were completely open to interpretation. That to me, (being open) is what collaborating is all about. Working with another on a project, for instance an installation. I want a soundscape created- give my friend a sketch and perhaps sound samples of my vision and they take it from there.
Also, I found the idea of being in control of art interesting. I've never felt in 'control' of art.. or that I need or want to be in control of my art.
Quite the contrary, without wanting to come across pretentious I make or create the things I do simply because that is what I have to do this time around... I have no control over that. It just simply is.
Selfish? No, I don't think you come across as selfish.
All in all though, I do understand the feeling of not wanting others around when you work. When I am putting together a body of work I often keep it hidden away. In my crazy mind it is undergoing a gestation period, I won't even talk about it as then somewhere it is already finished.
thanks for the comments everyone :D
nanotopia, i get what you're saying, and i guess i don't have the experience of working with somebody else on something to know that...
still, i think i wouldn't like to. it seems to me it would be a lot like that "commission pressure" sort of thing...
and your right about controlling art. that's why i had that little (somewhat) there. it sort of controls the creator! :D
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