Worries

Why have I been so concerned with the ‘look’ of art, the way art appears to be ‘art’? Is it related to my equally obsessive interest in the role of the artist, or the cliché of artistic production? I am fascinated with the perception of the artist, as a performer, as a transformative presence. But I find actual performance art itself difficult to do and to appreciate. I seem to be interested more in a finished ‘product’, however cheap and disposable that product may be. Granted, clean lines and a high degree of ‘finish’ appeal to me, but more by way of a concern with the line between hand-made and industrially-made, as a way of blurring the distinction between the artisan and the mass-produced, or between ‘high’ art and ‘low’ culture, or kitsch.

Do I see art as a way of affirming my identity, or as a way of fabricating one? Perhaps affirmation always includes at least one element of invention, of wish fulfilment. And perhaps by way of referencing the artists I admire, I am also taking some of their glory, reflected perhaps, for myself.