Why Make Art?
(An Artist’s Statement)
1. Because it is possible to create something so pure, that any person, from any place can relate to it.
2. When forced to confront the notion of the Human Experience, the most effective way for me to cope is to relate.
3. In order to relate, I must first express.
a. In order to express I need means.
b. The means I choose are strictly determined by what I need to express.
c. No means are unacceptable.
4. When I express it should only be my attempt at honesty.
a. Honesty, purity, and truth go hand in hand.
b. In order to be pure I must be clear. In order to be clear I must only communicate what needs to be communicated.
c. Honesty is universal. Therefore what makes me unique as a human does not interest me, only that which makes me human.
d. Truth should be my only subject matter.
5. Finding Purity is a process.
a. My process should always reveal the truth in my work.
b. Knowledge of my process breaks any illusion.
c. My process is just as important as my work.
6. Because the choices I make define me, my actions make my identity, and I am an artist.
a. Artists make art.
b. Making art is a condition not an activity.
7. Because no previous connotations or expectations can restrict me.
a. Everything is not art, but anything can be art.
b. No thought is original, and I accept this.
c. By accepting this, I acknowledge that originality can only be achieved by juxtaposition of parts.
8. Because sometimes people who make art get famous.
9. The only absolute truth is that I am going to die, and I have to do something until then.
10. I’m afraid to die, and I feel that if I make enough things that other people find interesting, I will never, really die.