Spirit of a New Project

Last week I posted from my notes on how we obsess on things.

I’ve been reading Artist in His Studio by Lieberman, which looks at those famous guys from a hundred years ago in France. Almost all had a few antiques around, notably the (then) recently publicized African sculptures and Japanese prints. They were struggling with how to get the raw underlying spirit of nature and people into their expressionistic works. Most were ceaseless fanatics in the studio with intense discipline to paint or sculpt. (Giacometti’s brother took molds from his pieces at night because he never stopped working on them).

I’ve been focused on a full scale version of a complex piece, bouncing from camera to computer to tape measure to projector to calculator and wondering about the efforts.

In our times of commuting, computing, and machine interface, have we lost the ability to search for underlying spiritual condition? In our screen time we may watch the modern art forms of TV or Movies. There’s lots of focus here on the results of underlying spiritual condition (CSI, Criminal minds, vampire, murder, celebrity fixation and reality shows). If we spend a lot of time on the web it seems really removed into a tech blizzard.

It is my hope that I can cap the statements about the car culture fixation with this work. It is a tough undertaking. This week I studied casting and assembly methods and did armature design on the new piece. I am prepping the “Boomer’s Nike” for a rubber mold which will allow me to make the major components. The size and logistics are an intense study. All the while the non technical side of my brain is mulling the spiritual understatement that should emanate from this big composition. Can it truly indicate the speed at which we hurl through our world of cars and screens? Is it worthy of the time and materials I will consume to make it full scale? Should I be doing more human or nature focused pieces that speak more to the spirit? What is the spirit of our day? Is our machine interface and constant analysis making us spiritually cold? Can a car centric form speak to the spiritual condition? Could this be the end of the Car Impact work? It always seems like the last piece I’ll ever make when I get into a big project like this, and it should. How else can one create his best from his utmost?

Passion & Time

Here is a fun clip done from the GR show recently. I had a ball showing this piece, and it prompts me to think about real passion and time utilization. (click the pic after reading)

At a show or event you can obsess with your fellow buffs about authenticity, production statistics, industry lore, current trends, and of course- grouse about, and critique the stuff on either side of your position! Yes, organized events draw out the worship in great depth and magnitude. And these last two statements apply universally to any modern obsession; sports, guns, music, art, clothes, wine, you name it! We get so knowledgeable that we start to be indignant to the novice. Yes we can now compare how we rate on the "Snobometer" for all our passions, "On cars he is a 6, on beer a 7, but the guitar thing he is off the meter at 12!" How many passions can one person actually hold at once? And more importantly, what do all these hours of contemplation supplant in our lives?

In each pursuit we achieve goals, we acquire something new, we crest a hill only to note the mountain we couldn't see just beyond our conquest. On some items we finally realize the "minisculity" of our knowledge and capability and give up the striving. Or we back off burned out. At the end of a life what will remain? What did we find fulfilling? God designed each one of us with certain bents and passions that align with His way for us. Many poor substitutes supplant these perfect walks with Him where there is incredible peace and a pure satisfaction of life lived by the moment in the way we were created to be, with God. If you have never experienced this flow, ask Him to show it to you. At the end of the day the life of true joy is worth so much more than all the striving. For me it is doing a big sculpture for people to experience.

What's it for you?
Thanks-Tj