Changing Interpretations

All art is a form of poetry. It’s always changing, never fixed. We may think we know what a piece we made means, yet over time that interpretation may change. The creator stops being the creator once they finish the work. They then become the viewer. And the viewer can bring as much of their own meaning to a piece as the creator.”

Rick Rubin, The Creative Act

I opened up Facebook earlier this week and was shown an image of this picture I made and posted a year ago:

I don’t remember much about making it other than the fact that I had a lot of anger inside from what was developing in my personal life at the time. I felt like I was fighting everyone and everything always and there was no end in sight. That rigid raw emotion was cutting through everything I was doing, giving my work a sharp edge. In fact, that emotion led me to the style I would settle into. On one side of my desk I had a million gesture drawings of unfinished, unrefined figures. On the other side laid a mess of scribbled doodles.

Figures provide structure.

Doodles provide fun.

Put ’em together and “You Are So Interesting”.

I look at this now and I smile knowing meanings can change, if there even exists a clear meaning at all.

I like making art that one can look at for a long time and see different things. And what it means, in the end, can be as fickle and as personal as one desires. Liberating!

What does this artwork say to you? Tell me in the comments!