Friday, June 3, 2011

New Sculpture

"Maquette for a Selection of Poems Intended to be Read Aloud,
and Which Have Titles Consisting Solely of Proper Nouns"
(chewing gum and composition notebook)

6 comments:

Yakshi said...

Fun. When you're creating these, or taking pictures, I wonder which emotion(s) you feel the strongest.

TenMile said...

Alright! Who chewed all the gum?

Word verification: logic

bastinptc said...

Yakshi - Interesting query. I can also answer TM in my response. The emotions attending the creation, the completion and, in this case, the documentation are varied, meaning that I am awash with several at any given point from the moment of conception onward. There are emotional impulses that may be the impetus for the piece, and for this one it was a recognition of the motivation for chewing gum. From this has come a small series of gum pieces that await companion pieces that deal with subterfuge. With this disclosure, the attending emotions are apparent.

Of course, as objects the final pieces step away from the subjective motivations. There are decisions I make in the construction that become, in effect, rational (logical?) masks. This provides a sense of comfort that allows me to proceed.

Now, as I have mentioned in the past, the attending emotions when I take a photo of a flower or sunset is considerably different than when I am making what I consider 'my art'. I feel a certain amount of joy in the former; the latter arises from a discomfort only in that I am engaged in creating what I hope is a shift in meaning and/or perception. The sublime pre-exists in the former and I am the recipient. The latter in onerous. And I am okay with this, indeed, driven by it, so I suppose I could describe my emotional state as a twist on contentment.

There are still more emotions that arise with the completion, all which filter through a sense of accomplishment: I apply scrutiny; and I anticipate feedback. This is where it gets more complicated, so let me just say that hope becomes paramount and then fades as I move onto the next project.

Make sense? (I quietly chuckle at this question.)

Yakshi said...

I think I follow you, for the most part. My only creative outlet is writing every once in a while--with some projects a long, long while--but I tend to get the urge when I observe the ridiculous. Then I write something that mocks the ridiculous, laugh inwardly, hope that others might enjoy it as well, and otherwise have a good day.

With the pieces that you display on your blog, it is obvious that a lot more is going on. Just curious to get a feel for what it is. I appreciate your thoughtful response.

My first thoughts looking at your piece were of childhood and of the prehistoric bones of tiny animals.

Then I looked at the title, and thought of the poet. His poems inside the notebook, he seems to be anticipating a performance. If so, the gum could be the residue of his anxiety.

The phrase "Consisting Solely of Proper Nouns" seems to bring me back to the pieces of gum on top of the notebook.

Overall, I felt that it revealed a lot about someone's character--like one of those quick movie scenes that somehow reveals depth of character by the way an actor turns a knob, opens a door, and steps into a room.

bastinptc said...

There might be a future for you in art criticism, Yakshi. Thanks for giving the piece the time you have.

TenMile said...

ROFL.

Now it's chewing in tongues by nervous artists.

I think this was a fascinating exchange.