Enough Already
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The Artful Readers Club for January
Artist's Journal Workshop: Creating Your Life in Words and Pictures by Cathy Johnson Sat in front of a local church on a sunny Saturday, then picked some flowers to examine. I only had a pencil so I added the watercolor later. Armed with few supplies, I went to one of my favorite spots and doodled. Lines added in Photoshop before posting...timid me. Please note: I recommend this book for any artist at any stage...my reference to 12-13 year olds in this review, is remarked due to the value of journaling. It's actually a very sophisticated book on many levels. In a brief shuffle through the pages of Artist's Journal Workshop , I found myself conflicted. The book contains numerous examples of a style of art making that toggles between the hugely personal and a publishable 'look'. So, with that...the book set up on my shelf for nearly a year. Now, after an honest read, I still feel a bit conflicted...but in a way that offers some inspir...
Enough Already. Although I have given it my own title: Conspicuous consumption. From Wikipedia:
ReplyDeleteConspicuous consumption is a term used to describe the lavish spending on goods and services acquired mainly for the purpose of displaying income or wealth. In the mind of a conspicuous consumer, such display serves as a means of attaining or maintaining social status. A very similar but more colloquial term is "keeping up with the Joneses".
The bin groans with trash. It could all be recycled, it seems. But it isn’t. One carrier bag says ‘Bargains’ and what reads like ‘go on’. The irony is that this enthusiasm is completely throw-away and knee-jerk. Underneath the bag is what looks like something that shouldn’t be disposable but is – some kind of electronic device.
Stylistically, it has the beautiful black diagonal which is often a feature of your work – the bin lid. It is interesting that you position the foreground before the architectural part of the house ‘on stilts’. It shows that the kind of ephemeral nature of trash collecting goes further into our familiar domains (the bin is on wheels as well – it’s sort of a shared imagery). The cardboard at the forefront of the image leads the viewer into the garbage, into the heart of emptiness… A sort of perspective-based directing of the gaze…