Wednesday, April 29, 2009



It’s practically impossible for me to make a line, a brushstroke, to put together an installation, without immediately evaluating it. I feel tremendous virtuosity pressure. There’s a loud judge in my head and her verdict is that it’s not done well. And she's right.

I wouldn’t ever say that skill kills. Of course it doesn’t. And nothing is more false than faux naiveté. But, I wish I could just make it shit and not worry about it.

Besides, what I’m looking for in the end isn’t skill at all. It’s another quality. I’ve always called it sincere – I’ve also heard it called honesty. Both are not to be confused with earnest, of course, which is a quality that is entirely overly self-important.

The shoe-i-ness of the shoe, as a colleague of mine recently wrote me.

3 comments:

Michael Konrad said...

what's that picture? is that a new work of yours?

Molly Stevens said...

Isn't that hillarious? Part of the current window display at Diesel, 14th Street and Union Square

TurnThisBoatAround said...

I have exactly the same approach (whether I like it or not), I seem to stop before I have even started something, out of fear. I have managed to overcome this slightly but I am trying to incorporate this unsureness into my work somehow. Oh and the work of Anne-Lise Coste is very similar to my own, so thank you, I would never have discovered her stuff if not for your blog :)