These are my thoughts on sharing unfinished art pieces. Recently, I found myself surrounded by friends next to my empty studio, and they wanted to know why I wouldn't show them anything. Somehow I explained, but later that night I realized that I was not fully truthful.
Why? During my 20s and most of my 30s, I have slowly developed a strange manner of providing smaller truths instead of the main one, to protect myself. Back then, I started purposefully and consistently telling the truth almost always, and only after some dramatic experiences began to understand how dangerous it could be. So, without realizing it and still sticking to the truth principle, I started hiding the main elements of my motivation even from myself, to avoid sharing. It is so strange, I know.
Luckily, I admitted to myself that I needed a new "rule" instead of plain truthfulness. Nowadays, I still tell the truth, but some parts of it I reserve for either trustworthy people or myself. Especially my plans and not yet thought through enough excitements. Talking about the past can be freeing, but talking about the future can introduce unnecessary boundaries.
It is an art on its own to be truthful yet protected and not manipulative or wordy.
What does it have to do with my artwork?
- Unfinished paintings are packed with partially explored ideas. I work in layers, and some of the surfaces are to be covered and for the fresh set of eyes could be misleading. Comments on works in such stages are rarely useful and often disrupt my thinking process.
- Intentions, I believe, especially artistic ones, should not be voiced. Sharing them diminishes the power of the creative impulse if you will. To give you an example, imagine showing someone a first draft of an intimate letter with multiple illegible words in it. How valuable do you think the interaction about it would be? And art is another language of communication, certainly for me.
Back to the situation with my friends and my paintings.
I told them that I didn't like sharing unfinished work because it messed up my thought process. This was understandable, but when they wanted to see the finished stuff, I gave them multiple pieces of truth:
- Many of my recent water media paintings are under weights, they need flattening. Many of my drawings I leave unvarnished - out of laziness and impatience to start working on the next idea - and the surfaces are vulnerable to damage. The rest are packed away without frames or any other individual support, ready to be carried away quickly in case of a fire. It would take a while to convert any of them into anything presentable.
- I don't want anyone who visits me to feel obliged to comment on my work and try to be polite. I am going to put some of the finished works on walls, so they will stay in the background and most visitors won't even know they are mine.
- For some people art is boring.
- A few acquaintances gave me somewhat irrelevant pieces of business or style advice, and it was challenging to steer the conversation away from it.
- I do not expect any of my friends to be either my target audience or art collectors, so it rarely crosses my mind to prepare something to show. Fine art is becoming more and more a luxury product again, with lots of darkish dealings and tricks, and the prices are usually a bit much even for middle-class income. I try to avoid any situation where any of my friends might feel in any way excluded or under the impression they are invited to consider purchasing.
Well, well. The bigger truth is that I want and expect an understanding of my art. I was very lucky to meet people who got me, and that was an amazing feeling that I do want to have again. However, it saddens me when it does not happen for one reason or another. I am selfishly trying to avoid the change to a serious contemplation from the lightness of having fun together.
