Leave Everything On the Floor

Over the next month I will be publishing my MFA Thesis. I thought I would place portions here as I go. The first draft is thirty-two pages long. That equals just under ten thousand words. It is a big task and I am committed to making it readable, thus far it is a giant pile of thoughts. I hope you enjoy reading it as it goes. If you want to wait until the end and read it in its entirety check back in May.

MFA Thesis Opening

We start with a big room full of people. These people do not yet know each other. Their connections to one another extending no further than the acquaintances they arrived along side of. We will refer to these people as strangers. In the room we also find art. The strangers are our viewers they are the audience and they have traveled to this place, participants making a conscious effort to be in this place at this time, to see the gestures of artists and to witness these artists making gestures. In some cases the only visible thing on display will be the residue of the artists’ gesture, or the object that is the result of actions performed by the artist. The audience brings the formula together, their perception, biased or otherwise, brings the art to its natural confluence. The audience makes the moment so the artist can find satisfaction in the piece. This is the moment the piece exists for the first time totally outside the mind of the creator. Before the show, before the display, the piece was captive inside doubt and unknowing. The reactions by the audience are the real satisfaction the artist seeks. The endorphin released in the artist by the audience gives the artist the impetus to return to the place of presentation.

The audience causes the making and sharing. The motivation to create and make is argued deeply. My position on the argument rests firmly in the camp titled “Audience Affirmation.” I believe the artist creates to ultimately communicate with a community. However large or small, that communication, that interaction and that experience of back and forth, is the nut at the center of the shelled question of, “why the artist creates.” There can of course be a plethora of reasons and many motives, many complex needs being fulfilled by the action of making. By no means am I suggesting the community is the only reason we create, but I believe it to be the largest single motivator.

Comments

  1. Can you send me over your draft of it? I can give you an edit if you want.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Tomorrow it will be ready to start sending around.

    ReplyDelete

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