Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Center of the County; Order and Chaos and never looking away; Akira Kurosawa



Center of the County
contee crayon  14" x 20"

"To be an artist means never to look away."
Akira Kurosawa

I have been swamped by the task of cleaning up the studio as we head into the winter. You must understand something about my studio - it is an old one room school house and as such is a little rough, more workshop than pristine, white painter's space. My carpentry tools and a good deal of cast off stuff from the house are also there, filling the corners and loft with God knows what. Plus the painting gear for the field; the huge studio easel and paint table and stretchers and panels and on and on.  Each late fall I try and bring order out of chaos - which just happens to be perhaps the most important task of the artist as well.

It is important to remember that one cannot impose this order or form upon the visual, physical chaos that comprises our environs. Instead an artist is an explorer, searching to discover and recognize understanding or some kind of order that lies within. It is, I think, a kind of alignment with one's surroundings that can only result from never looking away. A task that belongs to all the art forms, at their best.  So, as I finish and begin to restart the painting engine within, I will greet the new year again eager to never look away and try to discover. Best wishes to all of you for this joyous season and a happy new year!