The other day I spoke to Nelson Diplexicito, a Senior Lecturer in Painting at Camberwell College of Arts, where I'm now in my third year studying painting. We talked about how to make a good piece of art - it needs to have an element of chance, be economically reductive and, on reflection, you need to be thinking “that's the only way it could have been”.
Having restraints make you more free in art; if you have every colour in the rainbow in your palette, it can take you ages to choose. You need to make your life easier by narrowing things down and streamlining, like Mark Zuckerberg's t-shirts - he only wears grey t-shirts because it saves him time.
So that's where you're being economically reductive; I mean, for goodness' sake, you can make anything with just a pencil and paper - the whole worlds at your fingertips! But what about the element of chance? Well, to have that, you need to loosen up; you need to be willing to just pick up your brush and have at it. Don't think before you paint; react to the first mark put down - it's a conversation and it's one you really need to understand when to walk away from. You are told this is rude, but in painting, in the pursuit of art, it's the most important skill to have, to be able to tell when a work is finished and be able to walk away. It is easy to overwork a picture, but you mustn't let the desire to fix something you're uneasy with overcome you - what you've just made might very well be the thing that ignites a whole new way of thinking about picture making.
Where does failure come into this?
The element of chance, being intuitive and just smashing it out - that is the risk-taking; this is where failure might come, but it is also the only way you learn how to paint, by making bad art, by continuing to make bad art until you make art that isn't bad anymore. You wonder how people get into art school with the calibre of work they are making, but I think being a good artist isn't necessarily about making good art to start with - it's about having the drive and ambition to make good work and develop habits that will improve your output. It's as much a way of thinking as it is a physical action - to be able to express yourself, you first must know you want to express yourself. Then the development of your practice can begin.
Let go of the fear of failure and embrace the possibility of new discoveries. Pablo Picasso once said, “Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.” You can't wait around for inspiration to strike; you must be actively creating to find it. Taking risks and making mistakes can be difficult and uncomfortable, but the rewards of creating something new and unexpected can be immense.
JUST GET THE FUCK ON WITH IT DICKHEADS! WHAT’S THE WORST THAT CAN HAPPEN?!
