Thursday, April 2, 2009

Process

The idea of an artists process has always baffled me. So many people invest their time and energy into asking artists some of the most banal questions, in hopes that the result will be some soulful connection. The shrouded ghost of process is no real threat, but it seems to haunt anyone confused as to how any anything could have fallen from the hand that produces so. (and so, and so.)
What most people seem to miss is that Process, is by nature a intrinsically boring event. If anyone tries to enlighten you otherwise, it usually pads out to be bourgeois reenactment of something that is not anymore amazing than clipping your toenails. This maneuver itself is a pasty attempt to make some sort of safety-net-separation between talented creative types and, well, the rest of us.

Having said that, this investigation surprised me. I have not seen such an honest approach to understanding process than what Charlotte Cheetham has done with designers she is interested in. Sure there is theoretical explanations throughout, but none of them are pretentious pandering. Most of all, this is an honest examination of what process is, probably bet put by Montreal's Julien Vallée:

I don’t think I have a particular way of
working, even if it turns out that I have some
habits, some non-official way of proceeding to
create my pieces of work : sketching,
collecting opinions about a topic, stressing,
pumping up the volume of the music, waking up
at night and sketching all over again, getting
drunk and thinking I hold the perfect concept,
waking up in the morning and start all over
again, re-considering my profession, changing
the music, brewing some coffee, adding a new
project in the pipeline, sleepless night,
starting over again in the morning, buy some
material I end-up not using, start over again,
send some sketches to clients (knowing I would
never do this at the end), brew more coffee,
create the final piece, swear myself I won’t
take more than one project at the same time,
get some sleep, accept a new project, start the
process all over again...

1 comment:

  1. pssht i think process is the most exciting part of the artistic process. and with some categories of art (conceptual, postproduction) it can actually be more important than the final product itself.

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