Friday, March 7, 2014

Borderlands

I have to admitt something.
I've whole heartedly believed that catering to an Ethos of Perfection has always enabled me to live with comfortable illusion of adhering to a well worn path that allows me to engage with anyone holding piece of my work.


I know that as craftsman, I always have a solid handle on where I stand using a harmonious controlled form, an intentional surface, and a low deep bow down to function.
Can't forget function...


It's starting to feel like cheating.



I'm finding that I'm increasingly not interested in chasing perfection through harmony.
My own hand tells me that I prefer emotionally engaging work through an intentional discord of the surface. 



Tactfully and physically... 
 It's a Borderland.

4 comments:

Linda Starr said...

I'm liking the tactile look to these, they're begging to be picked up.

Mr. Young said...

Really sweet colors and textures!

carter gillies said...

Perfection is such a troublesome concept for artists. Is there one perfection or many? If there are more than one why call it perfection?

It seems that most often we take perfection to mean that which could be no other way. It can't be perfection if we could have gotten it some other way. Its a singular aim, and if we don't hit the target its as good as if we were off by miles. Anything less than a direct hit and it is imperfect. Either/or. There is no forgiveness in perfection.....

Quality, on the other hand, can be found anywhere and in anything. Is Michael Simon's pottery more perfect than Ron Meyers? That question doesn't even make sense to me. But what does make sense is that both have ideas of quality that I can relate to. Perfection seems to stand outside the humble efforts of human beings. Quality is simply what we try to do when we care enough, and we can care about so many things.

I love the chaotic new surfaces! I love that the imagery is somewhat hidden by the crawling and that the two really do complement each other in an unusual way. Would it be something like harmony and melody in music? Two different things that blend together to form the unique whole? Good stuff!

Scott Cooper said...

"Perhaps there are peaks above perfection that can be achieved only by accepting a certain amount of imperfection.” – Julian Baggini