Richard Mahaffey on tue 3 oct 06
Lilli,
1. On Marguerite (sp?) Wildenhain, She may have arrived with little or
now English, but when I met her in '71 or '72 it was clear that she had
full and complete use of English. Much to our shock she equated herself
with Picasso. Well, they both were strong headed, but that is another
matter.
2. Sometimes the Artist's statements are much better than the work.
When I see a high percentage of people from a single institution with
well crafted artist's statements and bad work I wonder why more time was
not spent in mastering clay.
3. I agree that the work should speak for its self. When I am luck
enough to make something really good I have nothing left to add. It is
all in the work. However if I want to be commercially successful I
need to be able to give the buyer a story (artist's statement sometimes
fulfills this requirement) because you see most people want a slice of
the "romantic life of the artist" or a story that they can tell when
they show the object to friends............."look at this! They put it
in the kiln which is in the ground and then they fire it with wood!!!!
They throw wood in the kiln for 5 or 6 days! 24 - seven!!!. Then they
have to wait a week for it to be cool and unload the kiln. I got to go
to an opening and they crawl in there and hand the pots out. I got to
help and I was the first person to hold this piece! It was like
watching a berthing!" or something like this often adds real meaning
for the buyer.
It is the Artist's statements, hang tags, promotional blurbs and so
forth that help the buyer understand "the story" and makes the piece
mean something more than just owning a pretty object.
All that said I am really tired of hearing that such and such is a
metaphor for thus and so. What is wrong with the word represents?
Reading a statement with more than one "metaphor" causes my eyes to
glaze over and creates the urge to raise my left arm to save my watch
because the Bull S*** is getting really deep.
Your mileage and opinion may vary,
Rick Mahaffey - Off to China for a conference next week.
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