I have been passing this residency over in my mind all week, but apart from setting myself the task of making a small statement, I have to let the rest become open ended, at least for the time being. I was thinking about the tensions inherent when working within tight confines, how focusing on more or less a single subject is both good for the work and mind, but carries with it emotional impact that is often tough to deal with. Between myself, the house and the rest of the world, in the places where silence and isolation lie, there is a busy world I try to shut out in order to reach into pot holes of mind and place. It is a knife edge, but the work requires it.
The word Reside, when looking more carefully at its definition, is interesting when considered as an 'act' of living for a purpose. Also what caught me was the form of 'sinking', 'settling', as 'sediment'. I like the idea of settling like sediment, it gives definition of what I am in terms of the space around me at home. It also involves time and time is a major force on my mind. I'm residing along with everything else in the rooms and spaces of the house, with its layers of sediment built over time, resisting and giving in to the slow movement downstream. To open ocean? This is all simple ways of life and it strikes me that very often emotional engagement with artwork is created by the need for simplicity. This leads to slowness and waiting, bringing suspense, nervousness and tension. It all gets into the artwork, hopefully.
So where does this leave my intentions for Reside? I have been on a path that has lead me back to painting, semi-abstract pieces on paper. I may move away from painting a little, to find other ways of looking. I may think about the relationship with outside more. I may explore drawing as an end in itself. I'm hoping though that it will help me find something new to what I already know.
The word Reside, when looking more carefully at its definition, is interesting when considered as an 'act' of living for a purpose. Also what caught me was the form of 'sinking', 'settling', as 'sediment'. I like the idea of settling like sediment, it gives definition of what I am in terms of the space around me at home. It also involves time and time is a major force on my mind. I'm residing along with everything else in the rooms and spaces of the house, with its layers of sediment built over time, resisting and giving in to the slow movement downstream. To open ocean? This is all simple ways of life and it strikes me that very often emotional engagement with artwork is created by the need for simplicity. This leads to slowness and waiting, bringing suspense, nervousness and tension. It all gets into the artwork, hopefully.
So where does this leave my intentions for Reside? I have been on a path that has lead me back to painting, semi-abstract pieces on paper. I may move away from painting a little, to find other ways of looking. I may think about the relationship with outside more. I may explore drawing as an end in itself. I'm hoping though that it will help me find something new to what I already know.
Anthony Boswell. "Work on paper'. 2012.
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