I find it irritating
to hear an artist say, "My art is therapy". Drives me crazy.
Somehow that phrase has crept into the artist lingo and gets
served-up like burgers and fries at a greasy spoon. And for me,
this trite and myopic description of what it is to make art leaves
so much unsaid.
However, I believe making art can be therapeautic.
And I have had just such a session in my studio. Earlier in the
day I had an emotional and distressing conversation with a close
friend and I just wasn't right for hours. But when I walked into
my studio I knew what to do with a painting that had been fighting
me for weeks. I was in the flow. And it wasn't long at all that
I emerged from my hole with a resolved painting and a brighter
attitude.
But while making art may be therapeautic it can
also create a variety of other emotions, and many not pleasant
at all. Frustration, aggravation, feelings of insecurity, fear,
anger. But there are glorious victories, moments of clarity and
understanding, optimism.
There is only one way I can think of how art is
like therapy. When working on a piece of art, there is a course
or
sequential
line
of action you perform with your media. And if you quiet your
mind, it will tell you what to do. But of course, learning to
listen is the real trick, huh? It has a similar feeling to intuition,
that moment you know something. So if you think of yourself as
the patient and your media as the therapist, I suppose you could
say, "My art is therapy". Perhaps the statement should be modified
to "My art is my therapist". Just doesn't sound as good though,
does it? |
