I went back to school 3+ years ago to get a Ph.D in this new, quirky realm – art, aesthetics and the novel Ph.D for artists. While there is much controversy at the heart of this whole concept, I have been greatly opened by my work in this realm. Having devoured almost 100 books of dense philosophy in the past 3 years, I stand poised at the virgin realm of my own forest. I have a trillion idea swirling around in my brain and it is the work ahead that carries weight and the daunting task of clarifying my position, my commitment and, shall I say it? The argument. I am tasked at present with the job of writing 8,000 words by November 1st in advance of being assigned a dissertation 'director'. So, the next couple of months I bear the privilege of sitting at the computer and working not to procrastinate too much around this most arduous task. Hence, the revitalization of this blog. This year has been so full of studies and getting through the orals (I passed, thank you!) that I haven't made a lot of "art". I put art in quotes as I produce and oversee the production of a fairly brisk porcelain business in upstate NY. I have developed a fair amount of new work at davistudio, but it remains not really "art", at least to me. Completely silly, I know, because it is art, and it does what I believe art ought to do and that is to inspire life and joy and a sense of play. My problem seeing it as art, per se, is the result of my own misplaced sense of what art is. Hence, the dissertation. Perhaps this potentially public forum (audience remains to be determined :) will serve to help allay my ambivalence.
So, I am writing here again. Maybe you will read this, maybe you won't. If you don't that's OK. But if you do and have interest in chatting, please comment below. I will also post images of new "art" as I begin anew to produce that sort of time consuming and rarified practice. So, my criteria for calling an object of my attention art vs. commodity is that it is-
1. Experimental and exploratory
2. Not economically motivated
There may be greater categorization down the road but those are two pretty good criteria to get me started. While I create this differential in my practice, I am seeking to break down those differences in my writing. Perhaps I need to reconsider Ranciere's notion of dissensus or Derrida's differance in my impulse to 'flatten' the hierarchy between art and commodity. Ah, much more digestion and iterative work ahead. Thanks for taking the time to read. No guarantees about how often I write, but I do hope to use this forum to get me rolling in my writing, to fly ideas up the flag pole and to consider my writing in relation to my practice. It is nice to know that someone somewhere might take an interest.
