Artist’s Statement…

When I was sixteen I had to create a piece of art for my AP Art History class. Below was the explanation I wrote to the piece… It was a massive installation:

When you’re very young, life is a whirlwind of make believe, inventions, pretend, mad scientists, alternate universes, wizards, witches and warlocks, evils that were always defeated, and the inexplicable ability to see a cardboard box as a castle equipped with moats and draw bridges. You get lost. You meander ever so slowly through your own reality. Where parents are always infallible heroes and being an adult is some euphoria of high heels and the capability to boss everyone around. Everything ugly in the world is either invisible or masked by a blissful ignorance. Yet you are dazed by the grown up world. The one you so desperately want to become a part of.

Unfortunately, you get your wish and have to grapple with the consequences of the world as it is. Without fairytales to escape in or naivety to blind you. Suddenly a castle is just a cardboard box. Everybody is full of doubt. They doubt themselves, they doubt you, and they doubt any good in humanity. You get lost again. Only in a different type of world where nobody is infallible and prince charming is just a scheme created by Disney in an attempt to gain profit from the mass production of sleeping beauty Barbie dolls. With this new found understanding of reality, people learn to make themselves invulnerable to the world. They look at things in a bad light. After all if nothing’s on a pedestal then nothing can fall. They are negative and try and blind themselves with words from broken bibles or words from broken men. They hide behind cars and houses and overly priced clothing. They delve into a world where the woman crying in public is too sensitive and the homeless musician strumming on his guitar is dirtying our society.

We fit into a mold and when we see anything that’s different we ask, “Why?” This simple word is covered in so much disdain, emptiness and pain I have grown disgusted by it. Why is she dancing when there isn’t any music? Why is she laughing so obnoxiously? Why is he showing emotion; isn’t he a real man? In response to this word vomit there is only one thing that comes to mind . . . Why the hell not? Why did Eve take the apple? Why not take the apple? Why not be curious? Why not be excited? Why not be crazy? Why not sing? Why not laugh loudly? Why not dance impulsively? Why not strum on your guitar all day if that’s what makes you happy? Why not live? Why not just live? Why not lust? Why not trust? Why not love? Why not believe in witches and warlocks? Why not see the morphing ability of a cardboard box?

This is where our project came from. The difference between youthful compassion and curiosity and elderly materialism and fear. We call the young naïve but are they? Who is naïve? Those who choose to see beauty in unusual places or those who refuse to acknowledge beauty? What war ever came from compassion and curiosity? What genocide ever came from untainted acceptance? But, we are the mature ones? The enlightened ones, the wise ones?

I am not saying life is worth enthusiasm because I don’t really see the world. I have traveled and seen the hell on earth some people have to live. I have lived hell on earth myself. I have seen cruelty. I have been cruel. I understand the potential for evil and hatred in everyone. But where are you if you don’t see the potential for compassion in human beings as well?

Our piece is difficult to explain. It is built up on our own feelings and experiences and splattered with our own beliefs and ethics. We have pictures of people that see the beauty in life and pictures of people who don’t. We have pieces showing the beauty in innocence and the wonders of knowledge. Our newspaper collage acknowledges the horrors of the contemporary world and we have doors that “lead” to places covered in poetry we wrote. Because although it is good to show evident symbolism, sometimes the best way to communicate is through work done solely for yourself instead of work done for someone else. As writers we have learned it makes it strangely more universal.

The installation is largely inspired by Antonio Vidal: One of the most prominent artists in Cuba whose installations are displayed predominately through out the Callejon de Jamel. Mr. Vidal deals with a lot of the social/political issues affecting Cuba and the rest of the world. Mr. Vidal does all of this with extreme creativity and innovation. After losing both his daughter and wife to cancer he is quoted as saying, “I escape reality through my art. If I must move on I will get lost in colors.” This quote is probably the largest inspiration for our theme.

Our clothesline is kind of representative of the country from which we stole ideas. In Cuba there is always dancing laundry on balconies. It is almost their signature. However, it also has thematic meaning. “Hang your Unadulterated Imagination Out to Dry.” Many of the images represent things we leave behind when we enter the adult world and things we gain if we can still keep a childhood air within ourselves. Being infatuated with Peter Pan we stole several ideas from the book. A thimble is a kiss in the most innocent way; hence, the picture of a man and woman kissing surrounded by thimbles. Ballet is one of the most rigid forms of dance. Our project is largely about escaping rigidity. Hence the dancer with abandon in a parking garage. We have pictures of children reading and a little girl playing dress-up. All representative of childhood . . .

It would be easy to say this piece was done to inspire emotion in others or make others think. But it wasn’t. It was a personal challenge to express ourselves, our doubts, our stings, our joys. It was a selfish piece done for nothing but personal gain . . . and if it makes somebody think or enlightens someone . . . hell, why not?

~ by carik on March 6, 2008.