DEFINITION OF ART
For a thing done to be considered a work of art, it must be the result of the artist actively participating in the following 3 actions.
CREATING
The idea behind a work of art which originates in the mental realm has been created.
SHAPING
The rearrangement of raw materials which trades one defined system of organization for another shapes the new arrangement to be recognizable as ‘something else’ when compared with how the raw materials started out before the artist was involved.
FRAMING
The spatial / temporal boundaries which contain the work establish a frame for where and when the artwork begins and ends. This action also takes place by seeing something in a new way.
ROLE OF AESTHETICS
An assumption I make when using proportions in placement, repetition, size, and so on is that mathematical (as in the golden ratio) and relative (as in a rectangle which has a length thrice its height) relationships can be detected at least on a subconscious level and in this way are interesting to the viewer.
ROLE OF APPROPRIATION
When an artist uses another artist’s art, the other artist has had an active part in at least creating and shaping, and includes framing if the entire artwork was used. Examples of other people’s art (OPA) include photographing an uncited source, use of a font the artist did not create, and collage. My work seeks to be appropriation-free in order to maximize originality in the creative phase of art making.
CURRENT WORK IDEALS
Using ‘coded’ text places the content between data presented as information and focusing on the beauty of letterforms without getting stuck on intrinsic meaning of text.
Entries from old journals are used as form and arrangement ideas and a starting place for new works.
The use of only materials on hand at the time of starting a work emphasizes the self-portrait-nature of the work. Some of the art materials around my house I have had for 15 years.
Reusing previous works as elements in new works provides content for each phase of the process: an idea for creating, material for shaping, and analysis for framing.