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| Eva Hesse |
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| Eva Hesse |
There has been a lot of self doubt about this past while, as I wonder what am I doing with charcoal, and while it never goes away completely, I know after all these years that the voice softens, then whispers, then fades away. Until the next time. Meanwhile this is great advice to read.
"Just stop thinking, worrying, looking over your shoulder wondering, doubting, fearing, hurting, hoping for some easy way out, struggling, grasping,…Stop it and just DO!…
Don’t worry about cool, make your own uncool. Make your own, your own world. If you fear, make it work for you – draw & paint your fear and anxiety…
You must practice being stupid, dumb, unthinking, empty. Then you will be able to DO!…
Try to do some BAD work – the worst you can think of and see what happens but mainly relax and let everything go to hell – you are not responsible for the world – you are only responsible for your work – so DO IT. And don’t think that your work has to conform to any preconceived form, idea or flavor. It can be anything you want it to be…
I know that you (or anyone) can only work so much and the rest of the time you are left with your thoughts. But when you work or before your work you have to empty you [sic] mind and concentrate on what you are doing. After you do something it is done and that’s that. After a while you can see some are better than others but also you can see what direction you are going. I’m sure you know all that. You also must know that you don’t have to justify your work – not even to yourself."
A letter from Sol LeWitt to Eva Hesse
Love Eva Hesse. A life snuffed out way too soon. Great words to live and work by.
ReplyDeleteThanks Roberta, my new motto....You also must know that you don’t have to justify your work – not even to yourself.
DeleteExcellent advise. Thanks for sharing this as well as your charcoals....which I happen to love.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the vote Jennifer, much appreciated. Hope you are feeling better.
DeleteWhat a wonderful quote...and a great friend! Don't think, DO...a mantra for 2013--Julie
ReplyDeleteThanks Julie, that's certainly one I need to remember! As my darlings says "you're thinking too much!
Deleteah beautiful words and inspiring post, viva the intrepid explorations of burnt twig on the lovely blank page... here's an excerpt from The Page by Margaret Atwood - Murder in the Dark Coach House Press 1983 that feels apt here, it's about writing but applies just as as well to drawing...
ReplyDelete"The question about the page is; what is beneath it? It seems to have two dimensions, you can pick it up and turn it over and the back is the same as the front. Nothing , you say, disappointed.
But you're looking in the wrong place, you were looking on the back instead of beneath. Beneath the page is another story. Beneath the page is everything that has ever happened, most of which you would rather not hear about.
The page is not a pool but a skin, a skin is there to hold in and it can feel you touching it. Did you really think it would just lie there and do nothing?
Touch the page at your peril: it is you who are blank and innocent, not the page. Nevertheless you want to know, nothing will stop you. You touch the page, it's as if you've drawn a knife across it, the page has been hurt now, a sinuous wound opens up, a thin incision. Darkness wells through."
Thanks for the Margaret Atwood reference. Don't know that book so will go searching. Have you read "The Tent", a collection of short stories by her? It's excellent and the last one in the book especially fine and very similar to what you have quoted above. Her clarity and truthfulness is remarkable.
DeleteYou also must know that you don’t have to justify your work – not even to yourself.
ReplyDeleteSuch an opening gift these words are. Thank you.
Ah Leslie, those were the words that really moved me, such a liberation to realize.
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