New year, new art, NEW CREATIONS
My second One-on-One with Jonathan, was - as always - eye-opening.
Firstly, that my Study Statement and Blog are making more and more sense to me - “le fond et la forme” as we say in French - both the intention behind and the way they are presented, are clear. Whether I do a presentation, a document, or even a video, if they are clear for me, and they make sense to Jonathan, well, that’s already two perspectives, so that should be the right way to go! Writing this down also helps me to accept and make a decision, it is something I often do in business as well - to write something down, to send an email, to send a meeting invitation, or to say it out loud - it makes the project real and other people are aware of what I am doing, even if it isn’t 100% finished, it means that I now have to deliver.
Secondly, that I do love organising events, but now is the time to create. So, the created in London over the Christmas holidays will be dedicated to the Low Residency, and now I need to create for me, and not for any upcoming shows. In some ways, this is a little unavoidable, as I have a few shows coming up in Paris, so do need to create for those, but I have now started sketching whenever I can, to just get the mental and physical creative juices flowing.
Thirdly, building upon the new sketches below, that I need to go and pick up some new canvas, or else use ALL OF THE MATERIAL I have in my cave (a 4m2 space on the -1 floor of our buildling in Paris), as I have a lot of stuff down there that I could paint on, if I decided to go beyond canvas.
Last but definitely not least, that everything I do today is subject to change, and that is absolutely fine. I know that it is fine, because I know that I have always been “in flux” - flowing and ebbing - my consciousness remaining constant and consistent, but the way I present and represent myself to the world, always evolving and (hopefully!) improving. This is my background in Philosophy & Psychology, but also just how I have been made. When you are born with a million potential labels on your head - woman, man, female, male, straight, gay, bi, asian, white, artist, entrepreneur, professor, et al) you are necessarily born a cocktail of possibilities. Hence the allergy to having one, single label, like Tilda Swinton.
“Why is this separate to the New Surrealist Collection?” I hear you ask.
Wonderful question, thank you for asking it.
Well, the New Surrealist Collection is a continuation of my desire to explore, interpret, reinterpret, steal from, and improve upon, my favourite Surrealist works. Especially Female Surrealists.
The new creations I want to make - FREELY, with no event in mind - should be anything I desire, not necessarily a nod to Surrealism, nor to Dada-ism, or any other -isms. These sketches came freely, and some of them are from Summer scenes (probably because it is grey and rainy in Paris at the moment, plus I am in Lille today for work - even greyer and rainier), some of them are just my favourite things - cats, flowers, plants - and some are my desires - to travel, to explore, to be in love, to be intimate, and to be loved in return. Sounds like the Moulin Rouge soundtrack. It is.
Something I have learnt about myself these last two years, since my last official relationship, is that I am actually much more productive and clearer-minded when I am single. I never gave myself the space or time to actually focus on myself, to focus on my desires and ambitions, and to allow myself to fall in love… with myself. I have previously mentioned this in the Groupe Clarins Solo Show post, and it continues to amaze me today. I am not saying that I don’t want to date ever again, I am just saying that this extra mind space coincides with the exploration I must undertake for this Masters, which is great.
So what is coming next? In the next few weeks, I would like to create:
Illustrations and paintings in line with my desires
Perhaps a new stop-motion film, this time in line with my illustrations and paintings
A deeper visual exploration into the ideas of Evolution - Identity - Duality - and all of my key words.
To avoid creating another To-Do List (I have a million going simultaneously), I shall leave it at that, with one more thing - the intention to sell all of these works, and to not keep them for myself.
We mentioned this in class, the notion of hoarding vs collecting.
It made me think of several things.
Of my mother - my heart - suffering from depression and anxiety (it has been over a decade, almost two), and I love her deeply, so when I see her hoarding, it really affects me, and also amazes me, because she only does this in one very concentrated part of the house - her own bedroom - the rest of the house is absolutely pristine and clean, almost minimalist. Quite bizarre, but in some ways, also shows how she prioritises appearances, and deprioritises her own personal space, which I really, really want to help her to change. To prioritise herself, to love herself, and to treat herself like she treats me. As the Queen and absolute priority of the house, because that is what she is to me.
Of myself, with my cave, full of things. SO MANY THINGS. I honestly don’t even know what is down there any more, I am convinced that it is all useful, somehow. “Just in case”. I can tell you with confidence that if there is an apocalypse tomorrow and I have to stay at home, I should survive for quite a while with all the THINGS I have across all the spaces I own. Survival aside, we are here to live now. So that cave needs to be organised, and I should throw away all the THINGS that I do not need, even “just in case” for art, because a lot of it is potential material for artworks. The artworks that are down there also need to be sold, or exhibited, there is no point keeping them in the dark. I have sold half of it all, I just don’t have time to be my own agent, but Erick knows this, so we will get it down this year. This is sometimes one of my blocking points, having to create MORE when I know that there is still all of the unsold stuff down there.
Of my future self, with my castle (yes, I am serious) or massive penthouse or countryside cottage or all of the above. I will have space then, and all of these artworks will surely be welcome upon the walls, if they have not been sold in the meantime to collectors. The really big ones need bigger buyers, the little ones could go to family and friends, and that might be a nice gift for me to bring back to Taiwan this summer - the illustrations and smaller pieces. I might also keep them, for some sort of retrospective of my work in the years to come. Writing this thought down is quite cute, because it makes me take myself seriously as an Artist. I have literally never written these thoughts down before, even though I have thought them a million times. It feels real, seeing them black on white.
Of my fellow artists, big and small, full or part time, and the way that we are all collecting something, working towards something. I love the variety. Studying more, doing more research. We are collecting from the past to build upon the future. It’s beautiful.
In addition, and as will be explained in an upcoming post after Milano Pride House, I am creating new Surrealist pieces inspired by Frida Kahlo and Salvador Dali for my upcoming International Women’s Day show in Paris, showing at Artivistas for the second time (first time was in 2024 with lots of nice artwork sales!)
