mentor and muse
ok, to start off, here's a bad art joke i saw on eddy's blog:
Q: what do art lovers eat for breakfast?
A: muse-li.
bahahaha!
but seriously, it reminded me about some thoughts that have been brewing about inspiration and guidance as an artist.
creatively, i have more ideas than i know what to do with. the muse is never far from my side and even if i found myself in some kind of equivalent to writers' block, i would probably just do something else - write, or make music, or sew, or take anti-depressants. or something.
but what i am kind of struggling with at the moment is exactly what to do with all of my stuff. where do i go? how do i develop and manifest the kind of art career i aspire to?
i have influences at varying levels of artistic/professional "success" whom i look to for aspiration (for want of a much less-maligned word), but i can't exactly ring up, say, rachel whiteread and say
"hey, after you had your grad show and charles bought your work, then what did you do? how did you go from step A to step B".
i think i assumed that doing a masters degree would be an opportunity to develop that kind of mentor/protegee-type relationship.. wrongly so, it seems. maybe that's just my course. in fact i get more insight and guidance from the likes of mayhem and lucazoid on their blogs.
and while i'm not shy about asking people for advice on specific projects (and have!), there's something quite..eek!..about approaching someone to be a mentor. and then having them there specifically as a guide and point of reference for your whole practice - not just snippets and bits and pieces. and, like teachers, are good mentors also good artists (and obviously vice versa)? or is it better to have good, honest friends instead?
hell, maybe i'm completely out of touch and mentoring has been replaced by google.com and i should get with the program :)
image credit: seb oehme
3 comments:
Do an MFA or a PhD or something where you get a scholarship to keep doing what you're doing. Institutions provide access to cashola, networking opportunities, libraries, and tax-breaks etc., and are a funny mutually reinforcing credibility circle.
(god I dunno why I'd reccommend a PhD to anyone - it's a bloody slog)
mayhem, that's the second time you've suggested i do a PhD... three strikes you're out .. ha!
I do hear what you're saying though - and while i've been thinkin' about it for other reasons (like there's a shit load of work that could be done around my current masters' project), i'm also thinking wider than just a project, or focus of practice. i'm talking holistically speaking.
i think the institution and the project model has obviously replaced the atelier/master model, but i'm wondering whether there's a way have a mash-up of both..
Recently a fella from Adelaide rang me up, a highschool student who had been given the assignment of "investigating a living artist". He asked me all those sorts of questions, I could hear him diligently scribbling down the answers as I crapped on down the phone line. It warmed my heart to feel that someone might be interested in what I have to say. But as a budding artist, he is free to make of it what he will. By which I mean to say, why the hell not ring up Rachel Whiteread? What's to lose?
In my experience of going in search of my artistic pre-decessors and legends (Anthony McCall, Carolee Schneeman, Steven Willats, Guy Sherwin, William Raban etc), I have found them to be universally delighted - surprised, even - that someone of a younger generation is interested in learning from them. I only regret not having acted fast enough to meet Allan Kaprow, as I would have loved to ask him a few questions.
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