Studio Visit

‍

While in the thick of art making, I tend to avoid getting too mired in the analysis of the work at hand. The process works best when it’s allowed to unfold naturally. One needs to provide room for it to gestate, and allow it to unveil its meaning and significance over time. 

Yet, always attempting to move forward on to the next project doesn’t provide me much room for looking back once the project is done. This forward momentum leaves me missing the chance for much reflection on what the work was trying to tell me about myself at the time. 

Being put to the task to discuss a body of work in front of a camera requires me to pause and consider the significance of the work in the present tense, as well as in the original context in which it was birthed. 

This opportunity to reflect says as much about my art as it does about myself at that point in time. Any creative act done in earnest is a mirror to examine yourself through multiple lenses. 

There are the superficial aspects of the craft: 

“Did I make this composition more interesting?” 

“Has my ability to draw faces improved?”

Though the more important questions ask:

“How do these pieces reflect who I was when I made them? How do they reflect who I am in this moment?”

Having a third party along for the re-examination adds another facet to the experience. How the documentarian sees my work, how they decide to frame me, the work, and my thoughts creates a different interpretation interlaced with my own. On the surface a documentary would seem to be a neutral examination, but they present their own version of reality and interpretation within it.

Art at its core is a conversation between people. A primordial language that transcends the spoken word. A universal but deeply personal lexicon that allows a dialogue which can reveal both something about ourselves and the person creating it.

I hope you enjoy this creative collaboration between Nick Thelen and me.

Check out the rest of his work here.

‍