Friday, September 19, 2008

The Curse of the "Untitled"

Every single piece of artwork I created has been entitled "Untitled" , with no numbers no names no nothing. There is no hint whatsoever to help someone identify it in some way.

There are two reasons behind why i keep doing this:

The first one is simply because i do not want to restrict the audience to a certain theme, concept or idea. Instead i would give them total freedom to decide what the piece of artwork in front of them is, what message it is conveying or what concept/ idea it is based on. I like keeping my artwork open to interpretation. It is a way of forcing people to stop and think about what it is they are looking at , the colours, the figures, the space , the composition and everything else that falls in between.

The second reason to that is because I cannot seem to describe my work in one word, one sentence or one phrase. I find it hard to put my thoughts into words and to construct sentences to describe what i am doing, feeling or thinking of.
This has been a problem that i have been dealing with ever since i picked up a crayon and started scribbling on a paper.

I realized that it is more of a curse rather than a problem. The better I get (whether in painting, drawing or sculpting) the worse this "Untitleness" becomes.

I don't know if that makes sense or not, but it does to me. The more able i become to illustrate an image using colours, shapes, or different materials of how i feel and what i am thinking the harder it becomes for me to put in in words or writing.

So, as you all know, this is the worst case for this class.
For the Senior Project we are being asked to discuss our ideas and concept behind the work we are to produce and exhibit. That is why I think this blog is going to be helpful in a way. I will be forced to write about the work in progress, the concept and all that, which is a good thing... i guess.

So here goes nothing....






4 comments:

Alt. said...

Thank you so much for finally revealing why you seemed obsessed with NOT titling your work. It's always been a bit of a conundrum for me.
Good luck !

Nadia Hamidi said...

What's in a title?

It's the works that's important, a names a name. The work should be able to speak for itself.

Besides, I'm sure if you stop thinking about it so much it'll come to you.

Either way, glad to see you writing on your blog!

Dying to see your work, begin the casts!!

Toodles Noodles!

Angelica Yassine said...

I like the idea of
letting work speak for itself...

When i look at work...
i usually let it speak to me...
then i look at the concept (if there is one)

Your sculpture at Traffic was
great conceptually and looked
very professional...

If this is what your producing
for Senior BUT OF COURSE BETTER ;)
i dont think you'll have any problems...

but.... please... dont be scared
of mistakes or accidents...
take a step back... leave it...
you never know if your always working like a maniac...

good luck... x

La_ChEmIsTa said...

wow, another talented artist!