I steal away an hour or two and, with a dear friend, head for the Willem de Kooning retrospective at MoMA.
As always, you are greeted with a curatorial statement before you enter the galleries. As I read through de Kooning’s reflection of his lifelong artistic career, I can’t help but want to substitute a few key words.
Here is a part of the curatorial statement:
“The cumulative picture of de Kooning’s achievement differs a great deal from conventional notions of ‘action painting’ and ‘abstract expressionism.’ It makes clear that de Kooning never followed any single, narrowly defined path; he repudiated the modernist view of art developing toward an increasingly refined, allover abstraction and found continuity in continual change. ‘Art should not have to be a certain way,’ he insisted, and over the course of his career, he explored many apparently contradictory ways: Figuration and abstraction did not have to be opposites but could simply be different options, to be explored simultaneously or consecutively or merged in the process of a single work….Either way, he said, ‘I never was interested in how to make a good painting….but to see how far one could go.”
Here is what I would like to substitute it with:
“The cumulative picture of Charlie’s (feel free to insert your name here) achievement differs a great deal from conventional notions of ‘career.’ It makes clear that Charlie never followed any single, narrowly defined path; she repudiated the pragmatic view of life developing toward an increasingly refined, narrowing and predictable outcome and found continuity in continual change. ‘Life should not have to be a certain way,’ she insisted, and over the course of her career, she explored many apparently contradictory ways: adventure and security did not have to be opposites but could simply be different options to be explored, simultaneously or consecutively or merged, in the process of a single life’s work…. Either way, she said, ‘I never was interested in how to make a good life….but to see how far one could go with it.”
When I read de Kooning’s own words on his practice and his ideology, I read it as an approach to life rather than how to be a painter.
What if we treat this life we live as a work of art? An all encompassing, ever changing, morphing, work of art that we can do over and over again, add to it, layer upon layer? We are all creators then.
Be as fearless in your life as you are in your art. You are a de Kooning in the making. This is not about how to make it “good” but how far you can go with it.
Subscribe to SpyTravelogue and join me as I splash some more paint onto this never-ending canvas.
I regularly (for sanity’s sake) think of the moment I wake up as the starting of a canvas, a blank slate. But your writing made me ponder that the idea of an evolving work of art may be healthier. Good to keep the vestiges of past mistakes.