getting rid of not-sculpture

michaelangelo was famously quoted as talking about his sculptural process in terms of "getting rid of everything that isn't the sculpture". as i hit my first panic phase with this next show, a very lovely lady reminded me tonight of mr buonarotti's quote.

in terms of installation and conceptual work, this is kind of an interesting idea.

i'm spending a lot of time 'sourcing' elements for the work at the moment. in fact i feel more like a set props buyer from a film than any kind of artist, but that's the way life goes sometimes. but i guess, rather than seeing it as a sourcing process, it's interesting for me to look at it in terms of discovering what is not the installation and the process becomes something pro-active towards an anti-matter.

each time i get a knockback, or a postage problem, or a timing issue, specification glitch, financial hiccup, it's actually a positive element of the process: a not-sculptural piece of the puzzle. and, as i get less and less obstacles, less and less not-pieces, i slowly arrive at the final installation.

for some reason, this changes my perspective of the creative process and makes the idea of process less about less and more about more. or is it less about more and more about less. either way, the final content becomes less of an entitled product and more of a resulting product. i kind of like that idea.