Art is a Solitary Thing

Art is a solitary thing. Or so it seems.

I spend countless hours thinking, pondering, considering, all before I start a new piece. I turn it around and around and upside-down in my head, and then I might or might not make the piece. Sometimes just making it in my head is enough. Other times I’ll take it through to fruition, only to make another version, and then another. And sometimes it comes out right the first time.

The next step would be for the piece to find its way into a gallery. Which is exactly what happened to Wishful Thinking, a piece I made this past summer.

Lori Johns invited me to exhibit work in her gallery, C. Emerson Fine Arts in St. Petersburg Florida, and so Wishful Thinking was moved from my studio and out into the universe. Scary business, as I have mentioned in previous posts. Akin to running naked in public when one bares their soul for all to see.

But sometimes in that move out into the universe you connect with other people. It is then you realize that art isn’t solitary at all. Possibly the work was made in solitude, but that doesn’t make it solitary, rather it becomes a path to other people. Art can open a line of communication that might otherwise not happen. It brings you together with people, not apart from them.

It’s a very cool thing to experience.

Thank you, Luis, for your insightful post. http://art-taco.blogspot.com/