069: Rocker

Rocker, originally uploaded by gingerpig2000.

Attention Whores

Anyone can be a star in their own bathroom, but I wanted to experiment with the concept. Forget the air guitar, let's make us a guitar and then some noise! Everything was just lying around at home, just waiting, and some of it has appeared before in other guises. If you want, you can have a front row seat, I'll be signing autographs at the end of the show.

When you buy things, like clothes or ornaments, try an avoid things that have a single use, it either ends up gathering dust in your wardrobe or on that shelf. Shelves are the ultimate death for objects - once there they lose any function other than as three-dimensional wallpaper. Finding your art means getting involved in your life, and that means getting better acquainted with all those objects that you surround yourself with. Remember, if you buy something because you think it makes you look cooler in others eyes, give it to them because it is not you.

064: Partisan Rules

Partisan Rules, originally uploaded by gingerpig2000.

eye:hand

Rules are important for people who obey them, but they are even more important for those people who can make use of them for their own purposes. For the latter group, what the 'rules' say is not black and white, are not the surface appearance the obeyers believe. Rules have a purpose, but this purpose is rarely more than loosely defined.

Life by rules are like the images above - we choose the one that best fits our purposes; none of them are the reality.

I can't draw very well, and this image represents some stages of producing the 'hand' drawing from a photo, using the mouse to paint on the lines. I deliberately chose an image that was free of eyes, lips and noses, and then experimented with where to put the hard lines and the soft shading. Ultimately, though, it had to represent me, the explorer, the adventurer, and the techniques I chose were merely one of many possible routes there.

042: Badass Traveller

Badass Traveller, originally uploaded by gingerpig2000.

I'm a Flikr Badass.

Fresh back from New York. Don't you think that travelling can be so tiring, but I wonder why no one would talk to me on the plane? After a week out of the loop with the Fuggers, this was my return shot, incorporating my very recent travelling experience.

I came back to Poland with a number of books I had bought about the meaning of art, and finding these was harder than I had imagined because most books are either descriptions of technique or of artists' work. Reading them I can see the authors battling with exactly the same problems I have been, I do not always agree with their conclusions but I have found some very useful insights.

Art is your concept of the world. The only way to improve your art is to improve your understanding of people and the environments in which we live. It is not particularly relevant whether you choose to study poetry or physics, either will give you equal insight into the world and your art, as would market gardening or whatever else. You do not even have to study one thing, any and everything will do as insight is the key, not bodies of knowledge. Your personal art and the levels of art of the highest achievers in society have nothing in common, unless you wish to compete for awards - it matters not one whit what other people produce, you only have to produce your own art. Art does mean your best work under whatever conditions you live under, but not 'anything will do' as art requires patience, effort and, yes, some pain. Art lies along the limits of your abilities, and unless you push the boundaries of your understanding with each new piece the art fades into mere reproduction. Pushing boundaries causes pain, and events causing pain push your boundaries of understanding further out in some direction. If something is causing you pain, then that is not a bad place to look for your art. Remember, though, that there are many kinds of pain, but they all hurt! :)