The second and third spaces (the presentation and the interpretation) referred to alongside, the images in Formshire 2, more often that not drag into them, a servant, the art-world equivalent of a social necessary; it is known as the artist statement.
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The artist statement seems a curious game, a hunt, a chase for the caging of elements that roam just beyond what I know, and thus, how can they be approached? After some years of tracking, I am unsure I am yet to find more than just a few indistinct footprints. Perhaps, it is nature of the artist statement that there is no single pathway from which it can be sneaked up on – perhaps, because, the artist statement isn’t the “game,” the art-work is and the artist statement is a mirage, a decoy. And, any clues are often fleeting in their trace – like an imprint washed away by rain. And I find, often, the thing has fled further into the wilderness.
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As time has accumulated in the company of the artist statement for Formshire (around four years, thus far), so do the perspectives, narratives and tales from which ideas originate. They have sprouted in all sorts of odd places, seeding numerous themes; none, satisfying fully; only a few sustaining their appeal. They have contained philosophical fancies, ludicrous claims that were built on sand, fragile analogies that crumbled under close examination, juvenile rhetoric made in haste, feeble metaphors clutching at half-developed ideas, ideological posturing (an expression I am grateful to Alberto Burri for elucidating), inaccuracies masquerading as cleverness, hilarious pomposities, and, too often, clothing unsuited to the occasion; a fabled release that never comes. No matter where I go with it or how long I sit with it, the artist statement is a weight that is uncomfortable in the bearing, and early on in our relationship (when I first was introduced to the artist statement) I found Edward Hopper’s, "If you could say it in words, there would be no reason to paint." I knew that this was how I felt. Though I have grown used to the chase and find the art-landscape in which the statement roams to be an intriguing mystery, I still use Hopper as a barometer. Because, for me, photography is a protection from words, and from the burden of meanings, whether, as Hopper implies, it springs from frustration at the inadequacies of words, or photo-making is just a rest from words and meaning, a place to go to feel safe from them. And, thus an artist statement is the irksome voice calling one back to the place one had hoped to shake off, at least, for a while.
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The artist statement seems a curious game, a hunt, a chase for the caging of elements that roam just beyond what I know, and thus, how can they be approached? After some years of tracking, I am unsure I am yet to find more than just a few indistinct footprints. Perhaps, it is nature of the artist statement that there is no single pathway from which it can be sneaked up on – perhaps, because, the artist statement isn’t the “game,” the art-work is and the artist statement is a mirage, a decoy. And, any clues are often fleeting in their trace – like an imprint washed away by rain. And I find, often, the thing has fled further into the wilderness.
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As time has accumulated in the company of the artist statement for Formshire (around four years, thus far), so do the perspectives, narratives and tales from which ideas originate. They have sprouted in all sorts of odd places, seeding numerous themes; none, satisfying fully; only a few sustaining their appeal. They have contained philosophical fancies, ludicrous claims that were built on sand, fragile analogies that crumbled under close examination, juvenile rhetoric made in haste, feeble metaphors clutching at half-developed ideas, ideological posturing (an expression I am grateful to Alberto Burri for elucidating), inaccuracies masquerading as cleverness, hilarious pomposities, and, too often, clothing unsuited to the occasion; a fabled release that never comes. No matter where I go with it or how long I sit with it, the artist statement is a weight that is uncomfortable in the bearing, and early on in our relationship (when I first was introduced to the artist statement) I found Edward Hopper’s, "If you could say it in words, there would be no reason to paint." I knew that this was how I felt. Though I have grown used to the chase and find the art-landscape in which the statement roams to be an intriguing mystery, I still use Hopper as a barometer. Because, for me, photography is a protection from words, and from the burden of meanings, whether, as Hopper implies, it springs from frustration at the inadequacies of words, or photo-making is just a rest from words and meaning, a place to go to feel safe from them. And, thus an artist statement is the irksome voice calling one back to the place one had hoped to shake off, at least, for a while.