Take it Away

Orignal post on Blogger 10 April 2005

Watching a video presentation by Tom Sherman an artist based in Canada. He discussed the value given to a piece of work by the amount of time spent on it.

In a culture of convenience, he asked, perhaps it makes sense to produce art in the same amount of time it takes to consume it. Move as fast as you can to make your point. However, he noticed, in this world of non-linear digital editing nothing was ever finished. Once a wood carver made his piece of art there was no turning back. For the digital artist there could be limitless revisions and improvements - nothing is ever finished.

I know from personal experience that the possibility of making alterations to work is a curse. Sherman told a story about an art teacher who had a remarkable gift for getting great work out of young children. When asked what her secret was she said it was that she knew when to take the paintings away from the children. To work for too long on something was to spoil it. Why move beyond the sketch?

Watch the presentation

Comments

[nic paton]

Speaking as one of the slowest creatives I know (my current average is 43 years per album) I think this is fascinating.

Art does get consumed, sure, but is this the best word to use? If I think about David Sylvians "Gone to earth" as an example, almost 25 years old, or "Dark Side of the Moon" (30+), now that I think of it, the impressionists, OK stop the list goes back to time immemorial, and how I have and still do enjoy these, there is another dimension to the measurement, not one of time and money.

It's a matter of quality rather than quantity. In terms of the mysterious elements of gifting, inspiration, circumstance, time taken preparing, time taken executing, how the process ended, prevailing zeitgeist ... an artwork truly becomes greater than the sum of its parts.

Although we live in a culture of convenience, that does not mean we are obliged to live by standards of convenience, quite the opposite in fact.