On Dec 19, 2008, at 1:38 PM, William Conger wrote:
The rest of us just take orders -- as impulse -- from the only
Ineffable, that which is beyond belief and therefore true.
I concur with almost all of your post, William, except this remark.
I do not believe in the Ineffable, in the whispering of a Muse or
inspirational breath of a god. I believe in intuition, the unmediated
knowing that each of us has. I firmly believe as a practical matter
that thinking about the outcome of a work in a large, strategic,
overarching way--thinking about the teleology, the "artfulness" of the
work--leads to a poor result, to a calculated outcome, to a staged or
contrived piece, or to a "marketing" option. Instead, all that
interest in the end result should involve no more than tactics,
planning, organizing, reviewing one's work (like looking at the daily
rushes on a movie set).
I trust my instincts, the sum of what I bring to the canvas. I trust
my skills in drawing, painting, color, design, structure, etc. I trust
them so much that I don't think a lot as I paint about the greater
significance of the painting. I just want to get to some point after I
start putting marks on the white canvas. I trust my knowledge of how
to start and to proceed, how to choose a starting point, how to
develop the painting, and how to know that it's not going well and
abandon it or repaint it. I have no doubt whatsoever that I will lose
my way, or worse, lose my style.
So I reiterate: I don't believe in the ineffable, unless it's really
the inevitable fact that I will paint only as I can, and not as anyone
else can.
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Michael Brady
[email protected]
