art assessment

the lack of funds and fan base makes it difficult to determine the right path. trusting myself has never been easy. i have no intention of being a martyr and alienating myself from the public because of my ideals. i really do want to do work that people can appreciate. sometimes i fear that there's not enough in my work for people to relate to. i feel this is more true about my acrylic paintings than my ink on paper works. at least those have a strong sense of space and light. they also more closely reference natural forms such as vines and branches. the acrylic works are abstract, so whatever interest they have depends on relationships between colors, shapes, textures, etc. within the picture plane. i believe meaningful experiences can still be had from abstract painting, but you have to have a brand of abstraction that works for today's audience. someone who i think does this is the german painter, tomma abts, whose painting is shown above. her abstractions are graphically strong, hard-edged and have moments of 3-d illusion. these are all qualities that relate the work with graphic design -- except that in her works formal relationships are the paramount concern instead of a means to an end. people encounter the work of graphic designers on a daily basis far more than they do of artists (even though, i admit, that line between the two is vague at times). this makes the language of her work a language most people already understand and acknowledge as part of the world we live in. they can easily move on to the substance of the work without having to learn her visual language.

i think you have to sacrifice something to make good work. i'm afraid that my recent efforts with acrylic have been too self-indulgent. there must be some effort to strike common ground with viewers, and this is something i have not done with the paintings yet.