We are taught to read things in a particular way.
We read words left to right for example, you’re doing this now. It is the formula we adhere to and the order they fall out as we write them. We punctuate to suggest the reader pause, and we use Capital Letters to ensure it is the Start of a new sentence. We divide the mass up into paragraphs, we’re told each paragraph should have a beginning and middle and an end.
? The Question Mark asks that the reader give thought to something. Just a symbol with a dot at the bottom is all that is needed to raise (lift from the page) a thought that should transfer from my mind (the author) and into yours (the reader).
Yet question marks, for me, are everywhere, surrounding everything. It depends on what you puzzle over or what makes you take pause, ordinary or extraordinary. It depends on your perspective and where you choose to insert your question marks. This is what art does.
An artist makes objects, tangible creations that feed into this vein. The thing is; being a successful artist isn’t always about the manifestations you make, but the way in which you read objects already here.
I create things. Predominantly I paint and sketch. I feel a need to do this. I write, doodle, scribble and jot too. I make funny little diagrams and strange little pictures to explain myself. I take photographs and I draw lines to trace my ideas. To give a visual in writing is very different from reading a visual art object. Where words dictate to you the exact descriptions, reading something visually relies solely on interpretation. It requires you to do the work, not the English language to do the work for you.
If I try to strip myself back, undress myself of everything. To notice something or somebody and in return to be noticed is the only thing that remains. Like I said, we are taught to read things in a particular way, beyond that boundary anyone can learn to see things differently. Present an artwork in a gallery space and the eye can do much more for us if we aim to be good at looking.
And to be good at looking is something I will always carefully strive to be. Because I believe looking has the greatest value of all and therefore the most beneficial rewards.
