I am obsessed with decorating magazines. I admit it.
House Beautiful,
Elle Decor,
Architectural Digest,
Domino,
Lonny,
Dwell,
Moon to Moon, etc. etc.
It's kind of a problem because all it does is make me want to go out and buy all the things on the pages, which is the point of course. I know ultimately it's all a farce, but I
do love looking at other cultures and the way other people all over the world live. I find it inspiring. Unfortunately it also leads to sweeping generalizations about America and the way we live, the way
I live.
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| magic marker on tracing paper, 19 x 24 inches |
American culture... where everything has to be brand new, pristine, shiny, and
big. We think of ourselves as slightly more moral and decent than the rest of the world, and we like our products to reflect that. When things get used we replace them. Throw out the old and bring in the new. This reinforces our entire way of thinking and living. If we stripped away this idea of shiny newness what would that look like?
Well, certainly the answer can't be found on the pages of a glossy magazine!
Lately I've been searching on the internet for things like how to darn socks and dye old fabrics, and now that it is officially Christmas season this all seems relevant...? I am NOT free from American consumerism by any means. Not all the things on my Christmas list are used/vintage (FYI I just spent a ton of money on a
very shiny new kitchen sink), but I also cannot bear to buy one more product from Home Depot or Target. I have no interest in living a life that looks like a sterile hotel room or an ad in a home and garden box store circular. And anyway I can't think of anything warmer and more inviting than objects, interiors, and even people that are slightly rumpled and used.
And that leads me to what I really wanted to tell you about. I know I've gone off on a tangent, but besides my Christmas list, I really have been thinking of all this in relation to my work. If I could embrace that bit of messy nature, of wild rambling vines and the familiarity of the slightly used and rumpled... I'd be very happy.
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| magic marker on tracing paper, 19 x 24 inches |
At night while I watch TV I've been making drawings with magic marker on crumpled tracing paper. It feels very liberating. When I started to paint on paper instead of canvas last spring I had this need to not take my materials so seriously. I was feeling pressured with the responsibility of costly canvases and I wanted to not be precious with anything. I want to be free and unencumbered with my materials but also I want to make work that is more natural, less laborious and ultimately more accessible for the viewer. Although I've been going back and forth between canvas and paper, I'm approaching it differently. Less preciousness, less earnestness, less pressure, more natural, more immediate, more personal, more accessible. Nature is a wild beautiful miry mess and I'd like to embrace that, at least in my work if I can.
... off on a tangent or not, I'm planning to give everyone jarred peaches for Christmas this year, tied with a used ribbon and a handmade paper card... we'll see how well that goes over.
Happy Season to you all!
Happy Making, and thinking, and being!
