After having glazed over eyes due to Duncanitis, it was great to hang out with Amy Zion and Jenn Jackson in Vancouver on Wednesday before they went to Edmonton for the summer.
Amy and I walked through the ECI undergrad show and we both agreed that the stronger pieces were the ones in which some theory was considered, or was informing the work. But like Amy was saying, purely theoretical work is crap and so is decorative work. She said there must be a happy medium.
But how do you come to that medium? I find it's really important to engage with theory, and then forget about it. I love how Agnes Martin waits for inspiration and then paints the image that pops into her head, fully formed. This is not rational and is completely appealing to me. I think you just have to do what compels you, without fully knowing why it's compelling, and meaning unfolds from it or not. This is how I want to work. Being too conscious of the motivation behind the work could make it didactic or contrived.
What would Bob say?
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