I believe The idea that the viewer completes the artwork was an important part of Duchamp’s philosophy too. RIP Gary. Just read “I can give you anything…” and it was great. Fire Season a fantastic book of essays. And Gary’s comment that Andy W. was a combination of Joan Crawford and Franklin Pangborn is genius. Pangborn died of complications from surgery too!
We have lost too soon one of our very greatest American artists/writers.
Laughed/cried at “As someone who budgeted eighteen months for my current book project and is currently entering month forty-eight (oh god)” I FEEEEEL YOU ❤️🔥
I am working on some sprawling things this winter, a whole body of art works and research on visual musicality which has always been a part of my work but rarely in the foreground - in the exhibition phase which would count as publishing. So I get this problem of things dragging out. I have one pivotal painting in this series that I spent 20 years on here and there over the course of time adding to, editing, changing colors, experimenting with light, etc. before I decided it was finished. I decided that, compared to my other more public works, the problem is figuring out the beginning, middle and end. I often get bogged down on this problem of identifying and committing to a specific process or recipe that tells me ahead of time "here is the start, here is the development, here are the refinements, here is the finish." I have this worked out in most of my other work but with visual musicality - I should say 'symphonic painting' - though I have been working on elements of it my whole career, at the age of 68 I am still figuring it out - the theory, the language, the strategy, the structure, the process and the finish line. This is going to be my big push this winter, to get it figured out and put into practice and document the whole process on my substack page over the next few months. It takes an incredible amount of tenacity and internal stability and patience to take on multi year projects
Twenty years on one painting! That's incredible, and quite a testament to the "tenacity and internal stability and patience" you describe. Thank you for this message, I find it very cheering. Really, in a way, the goal is to still be struggling with these kinds of problems (not the exact same ones, but new ones for new projects) decades from now. That's the whole point, right?
Yes! That is what gets us out of bed in the morning. If things get too predictable we have to figure out tougher questions and problems to grapple with and keep overcoming our self doubts and assumed limitations I would say. A seed dreams of being a sprout and a sprout of being a tree and a tree of being a forest.
I believe The idea that the viewer completes the artwork was an important part of Duchamp’s philosophy too. RIP Gary. Just read “I can give you anything…” and it was great. Fire Season a fantastic book of essays. And Gary’s comment that Andy W. was a combination of Joan Crawford and Franklin Pangborn is genius. Pangborn died of complications from surgery too!
We have lost too soon one of our very greatest American artists/writers.
Unfortunately I know very well what it's like when your project is taking too long, or maybe it's just that you PERCEIVE it to be taking too long... 😭
I know — I act like the book should be operating on MY timeline, when really it's the other way around!
EXACTLY
Laughed/cried at “As someone who budgeted eighteen months for my current book project and is currently entering month forty-eight (oh god)” I FEEEEEL YOU ❤️🔥
Thank youuuuuuuuu 🫠
I am working on some sprawling things this winter, a whole body of art works and research on visual musicality which has always been a part of my work but rarely in the foreground - in the exhibition phase which would count as publishing. So I get this problem of things dragging out. I have one pivotal painting in this series that I spent 20 years on here and there over the course of time adding to, editing, changing colors, experimenting with light, etc. before I decided it was finished. I decided that, compared to my other more public works, the problem is figuring out the beginning, middle and end. I often get bogged down on this problem of identifying and committing to a specific process or recipe that tells me ahead of time "here is the start, here is the development, here are the refinements, here is the finish." I have this worked out in most of my other work but with visual musicality - I should say 'symphonic painting' - though I have been working on elements of it my whole career, at the age of 68 I am still figuring it out - the theory, the language, the strategy, the structure, the process and the finish line. This is going to be my big push this winter, to get it figured out and put into practice and document the whole process on my substack page over the next few months. It takes an incredible amount of tenacity and internal stability and patience to take on multi year projects
Twenty years on one painting! That's incredible, and quite a testament to the "tenacity and internal stability and patience" you describe. Thank you for this message, I find it very cheering. Really, in a way, the goal is to still be struggling with these kinds of problems (not the exact same ones, but new ones for new projects) decades from now. That's the whole point, right?
Yes! That is what gets us out of bed in the morning. If things get too predictable we have to figure out tougher questions and problems to grapple with and keep overcoming our self doubts and assumed limitations I would say. A seed dreams of being a sprout and a sprout of being a tree and a tree of being a forest.