Play

I visited my friend and former teacher last Friday. He’s always a good source to bounce my current state of mind off and yak about art. I don’t always agree with him, and he always challenges me on my current work -which I like and respect. He showed me some of his recent paintings on paper, which were amazing. So free, so loose, so primordial and real. To me they are a savage art, and I when I see a career academic so freed from the chains of that world it gives me a lot of joy and a fair amount of hope.

Sometimes the best art comes from playing games with ourselves in the studio. We set up an exercise or a set of parameters; I’m only going to use this material, or I have to do a painting a day for this many days, or I can only work on paper. Rules sometimes free us the most. Playing games inside the studio reminds us that it is play, after all. It’s so easy to get serious and all in my head, but remembering to play is so important. I do this because I feel called, but I do it equally because it is fun.

Serious play is what children do. My daughters are 100% committed to their play, they are invested and focused in it. Play is vital, and it doesn’t stop being so just because we grow up. There are times I step outside myself in the studio and see this 40-something man slinging paint at stretched canvases in a dirty warehouse at night and I have to laugh. I’m totally committed, but I’m also having the time of my life. I suppose I enjoy the hard parts too, or else I wouldn’t keep on.

I’m sending off the first of a series of grant applications today. (filed under tedious un-play) All one can do is send the best possible package and then try to forget about it.

I’m looking forward to working/playing tonight.