DON’T THINK SO MUCH.
but then again by all means do… Anyway this is both serious and not so serious, play, self-examination, and simply meditative automatism. creating an image that is both abstract and concrete. open to interpretation and highly specific and personal.
Most of the thoughts beyond this point are more of a personal interpretation, one among multiple, as my opinion shifts over time as well. therefore the rambling stream of consciousness nature of the following paragraphs can be ignored in favour of personal interpretation. I by all means am not the most self aware person and while I try to remedy that I also enjoy the labours of my subconscious at times. Then at others I get terribly embarrassed or try to rationalise something I don't quite understand myself. This body of work is intended to be enjoyed in the aesthetic surface level, to what ever level of individual meaning you can find in it.
I feel like things need to serve a purpose. I started my work as a way to find that purpose but also with the work as the purpose in mind, the qualities of the earlier pieces and their focus on precision reflects that search for a meaning to my work. something beyond. here is me. this is whats going on with me.
NONE WANTS TO SEE MORE WORK ABOUT ANGST
plus what would it help. I feel like if you feel that way seeing more stuff which supports that perception of the world should only make it more so.
but I came to realise through the course of it and by making more and more things that felt right but I did not completely understand. maybe due to my failure as an illustrator or lack of planning. or maybe there was something more there.
I feel like the act of reinterpretation and reading abstract images can produce a range of instinctual reactions and qualities.
so in the end I ended up making that's about me. at least in part.
I kept up the attempt to create something that touches on the reality of the world around me but I feel all I got in the end is clearer image of the way that I see the world. However obtuse and disjointed. some pieces might need more work some are good as they are. some will never work and I should do something else. some might be my own negative stereotypes I am not that self-aware I think or maybe Probably I am too self-critical.
the content of the work is mostly very abstract. there is some more clarity in some of the ink work but mostly it was impulsive inclusions of popular characters.
All of this pointing to my own detached nature. I feel that is hard to commit to one read of anything. but we still need to at times. I hope that my work can be that to some. a way to read multiple intended meanings to generate their own and to see things in new and changing ways. anything can be bad or anything can be good. I personally believe many things but I will never say that I am truly right on anything. Or on most. I think there are some universal things that we all sort of don’t think are really debatable I just think most things aren’t really a debate but one thing with two natures that manifest simultaneously with probably many more we haven’t thought about.
So I think having a thing thats many things might remind us of that. That is the illustrative purpose of the work, naturally the work also has more painterly and evocative aspects but the desire for communication is definitely part of its “purpose”.
I personally think its about life and my perception of the world as I try to both look for and abandon foundational thinking. This process took roughly 5 years.
It is both a visualisation of more abstract thoughts and reactions to the world as well as the relationship between the information sphere or the nature or intellectualism versus the immediate nature of existence as a creature of sentience on a planet. Maybe the Plant, cultivated in the garden, or the mold on the dark side of the bread. Its about thinking about stuff I don’t understand and some stuff I don’t think anyone understands. It might be wrong, misguided (dunning krugered :)), I might be thinking about and talking about things that I don’t have the correct conception of, or my biases might be shown in ways that I did not anticipate. This is partially why I am urging the viewer to find their own interpretation of the work. there is some hints to parts of the thoughts I had in the titles, but Like most of the work it was created in bursts. cycles of observation and inaction interspersed with committal to something that clicks either intellectually or instinctually.
What will be will be.
This is me. but also only a faded and subjective Xerox both my misconceptions of myself and the world as well as my biases and instinct as a person.
To be honest It might not be committed enough, maybe the work should be more explicit but in a way it mirrors my own uncertainty. Not just about subject matter but also as someone who aspires for adulthood but also dreads the thought that I will embrace the idea that there is a right way to exist anymore.
Maybe its greedy wanting to be both an adult and also a child. Both part of society and apart form it. Its certainly a sign of privilege that I have been able to commit to creating art to this degree to the exclusion of much. and the results are neither specific enough to be considered insights nor really qualitatively substantial enough to be considered a fully fledged eternal object.
They are thoughts over time. Moments meaning spontaneously, or out of a sense need for action. a desire to interact with society though external expression, yet a transient object of the moment, annoying to maintain over anything more then a century. not quite understood notions born form the noise of our modern world.
It about attempting to perceive the interplay and multiverse of cultures and viewpoints that we call the internet. Its similarities to the collective subconscious and the nature of both constructed meaning, such as drawings or text with abstract meaning such as form, color, gesture and medium.
But then again this is only what I think now, and might not be what I think at another point in time. We Surf the web because the only way to harness chaos is to feel.
but.. HERE THERE BE MONSTERS (Hidden among children in monster masks)
Both Abstract and Specific. Each moment distinct but connected. sort of like a super specific meme for only the artist, the Galerist, the collector and the immediate observer.
1.abstract, automatic; color, shape, space, texture, graphic. rough, imperfect (spray paint, >50% control)
2. reinterpret; shape meaning, energy. Detailed, precise, smooth, sensitive, controlled. (ink, >80% control)
3. framing, hanging, scanning, retouching, documenting, stretching and mounting (prep, <50% control)
4. consuming, owning, decorating, look at while on the can, see every evening coming home. (>0.5% control)
In the end it’s a hodgepodge of things, the main connection being me and my biases and subconscious tendencies that shape these pieces. The most interesting part being the level of introspection it allows myself as well as the subjective interpretation of the viewer.
There is also an aspect of freedom from expectation and even the need to make good art. The quality of the pieces on cardboard or paper meaning they are a good bit more ephemeral as objects then say a canvas with oilpaint. In essence art describing the individual in todays consumer culture and its transient objects, such as cardboard boxes, and its permanence, with branding advertising and graffiti.
Spray-paint and Cardboard are choices that are emblematic of immediacy, the ubiquitous packaging, a symbol of modern commerce reused for the individual end, its long travels end as art instead of mulch.
The paint is immediate, it covers all, its imprecise but extremely effective. artificial pigment and paint-applications give the image an alien quality. It is a weighted toolset of the artist. Premixed, out of control, domineering, opposing control, inherently extroverted.
Finally Ink. This is a permanent marker ink, to follow the street art materials, Harsh deep black, but also highly reflective. Contrast on multiple layer. it is an increase in control, a way to make sense of the desires of the individual (subject matter) and the reality of the world (practical paint application, result of abstract underpainting, successful or unsuccessful)
All represent parts of the human experience, the subjectivity of time and space and present a meditative practice for the artist. The Goal is to create art that enters deep enough into the subconscious to the artist to generate subconscious meaning, the reinterpret it in the moment and document that interpretation with the ink, to then create another layer in creativity concerning the presentation and ultimate framing of of the individual works by a third party, and then finally the subjective read of the ultimate owner and the others seeing it.
There is no definite meaning to these works, I planned one thing, found another, meant another, then the picture is reinterpreted from a visualisation of meditation as a thing of value and importance through framing, and finally is newly understood and interpreted by the viewers in its final form in the place and time it finds itself.
precise enough to commit to saying something, but not precise enough leave no doubt. its meanings being both subjective and objective.
I feel like things need to serve a purpose. I started my work as a way to find that purpose but also with the work as the purpose in mind, the qualities of the earlier pieces and their focus on precision reflects that search for a meaning to my work. something beyond. here is me. this is whats going on with me.
NONE WANTS TO SEE MORE WORK ABOUT ANGST
plus what would it help. I feel like if you feel that way seeing more stuff which supports that perception of the world should only make it more so.
but I came to realise through the course of it and by making more and more things that felt right but I did not completely understand. maybe due to my failure as an illustrator or lack of planning. or maybe there was something more there.
I feel like the act of reinterpretation and reading abstract images can produce a range of instinctual reactions and qualities.
so in the end I ended up making that's about me. at least in part.
I kept up the attempt to create something that touches on the reality of the world around me but I feel all I got in the end is clearer image of the way that I see the world. However obtuse and disjointed. some pieces might need more work some are good as they are. some will never work and I should do something else. some might be my own negative stereotypes I am not that self-aware I think or maybe Probably I am too self-critical.
the content of the work is mostly very abstract. there is some more clarity in some of the ink work but mostly it was impulsive inclusions of popular characters.
All of this pointing to my own detached nature. I feel that is hard to commit to one read of anything. but we still need to at times. I hope that my work can be that to some. a way to read multiple intended meanings to generate their own and to see things in new and changing ways. anything can be bad or anything can be good. I personally believe many things but I will never say that I am truly right on anything. Or on most. I think there are some universal things that we all sort of don’t think are really debatable I just think most things aren’t really a debate but one thing with two natures that manifest simultaneously with probably many more we haven’t thought about.
So I think having a thing thats many things might remind us of that. That is the illustrative purpose of the work, naturally the work also has more painterly and evocative aspects but the desire for communication is definitely part of its “purpose”.
MORE DETAILED THOUGHTS (Simple works, simple might be better, Just so its here in case someone asks, I want to be a professional after all, lol)
Do my thoughts on art making really make for a conceptual link that can keep together a series? To unify and elevate a series of works through intellectual understanding of the process? (of the question why make art if you don’t have any major input on the various specifics of my time and space) Or is that attempt the problem, or am I just a lazy person, who likes to play with materials and cannot generate meaning? Or is my attempt to visualise something I cannot put into words some form of failure rather then the hope that through my focus and the attempt itself the subconscious decisions I make will speak to someone who has not understood that subconscious subjectivity.
Why do we like a piece of art, or music. Is it because it is objectively good, or is it because what it was spoke to something deeper within us. In the end how much we get from art and from others fantasy, is always dependent on what level of artistic conception we ourselves can muster. Think of the intertextually of marvel for example. The standing line of Marvel is “the world outside your window” it works excellently for movies, as they more then almost any medium allow us to project. to interpret the characters through action, rather then exaggeration or the explicit. furthermore marvel specifically relies on speculations, as to the workings of its world and the fictional characters within. but By giving us enough loose ends, we do a lot of the work ourselves. we are creatively engaged in the questions of what the future might hold, how to exist as x, we deal with moral questions we might never prose in real life.
I think that’s the true power of art. The power to make a person engage creatively with something. Immerse, interpret, interpolate. Even to retell and misunderstand. A stupid or wrong reaction is mainly a reaction you did not expect.
If someone takes my work buys it then, paints over it or adds to it because they feel they have to, I don’t even mind, because from then on its theirs. Mine was the thing they bought, and if someone works over theirs it becomes that person, and the second person would. That being said, just taking the work, thinking about where to hang it, how to frame it and so on. are creative decisions that change the meaning of the piece to be more in line with what the observer thinks about the piece rather then the creator. and that is fine.
For me the piece is something that exists in the moment. The initial abstract is a piece in itself, the Ink reinterpretation is a piece, and it can be argued that each time the piece is reframed or hung in a new space the piece changes again, this is why I don’t mind my work being vandalised. It is also about the nature of how we generate value.
Lets say I saved the world (for silly arguments sake im not cray or smart enough for that as far as I can tell) the value of my work in the eyes of some would rise and you might argue that preserving its has some sort of higher meaning. Being my irrelevant self it depends on how I sell myself. or if. That being said. My work might also turn out to be evil. if my biases made me draw something evil, am I evil, what if I did something evil, would destroying what I make become good?
Anyway, you can interpret what I do as this. Or you can interpret it as, he felt he needed to make art, so he made something that could be called art. Maybe more therapy then intellectual praxis. but in the end nothing more then a hyper intellectual, finding faces in the clouds, less creative then interpretative. Letting others interpret could be seen as not committing to a statement. Our times greatest sin, Centrism. You can be a centrist individual but, in public, in art? Anyway I try do be specific.
I will likely do the series on nails for a couple more months and expand the catalogue. I feel like I could just make one every day for the rest of my life and it would be no problem. But the ultimate goal is still to make art that’s meaningful, helpful, important and most of all, can be understood by a great many people, while making them feel smart and want to make guesses about stuff, even if they might be wrong. Even if I might be wrong.
for some odd reason,
I still don’t have a proper artist statement for this.
call it a stream of consciousness
that I personally have not fully understood
as well…
I don’t really feel like asking myself: “What is art?”, anymore.
Maybe someone else will know.
is this art or is this me just doing stuff because I feel that I need to do something.
like fleeing from the reality of life through forced introspection that ultimately helps no-one.
so I can’t help myself and return to
Cui bono?
Do I really just want your money? and there is nothing to attempting to stack together vague notions and instinctive decisions.
I suppose it depends on if my perspective is unique, or my work evocative enough. or some such thing. maybe just because its funny.
I find that one of the easiest common denominator. Why do I think of some cartoon when there are things going on in the world. am I expected to comment to understand. we are all equal, especially in the void of the net. but then we are not at all when it comes to the actual realities outside this budding meta verse of human whatever.
IN THE END IT DOESN’T MATTER FOR YOUR PERCEPTION OF THE PIECE. AND FEW OF THEM ARE ABOTU THIS TOPIC AT ALL.
Confusion is an excellent source of creativity and the motivation to figure stuff out yourself. Like once upon a time the Monty Python confused a cat.
The function of art in modern society. Picasso said everyone is an artist. I think so too. at least potentially. With many things people learn to do at some point they get good and confident enough about what it is they are doing they will feel the possibilities of creative problem solving and possible change and advancement. The issue is that in a regulated system. Change and experimentation are difficult if not dangerous. So these urges are suppressed.
I personally believe that a good place to start is by staring at clouds and finding what you can see. But that is my visual bias talking. Sound or touch something else might work just as well. Then you apply the same mode of thinking to art you look at. try to make your own interpretation. maybe read the interpetainon of someone else. but if you’ve made your own its an act of creation. Its art, its your connection to your subconscious and it has value to you. Like a sign in the spiritual sense or a reaction of your subconscious in the scientific. it does not matter. to me that’s magic. true immersion.
FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION,
“OTTOS MOPS KOTZT”
THANKS FOR READING.
HANS VON SCHRÖDER aka das_Hans aka -ans