The studio is a laboratory, not a factory. An exhibition is the result of your experiments, but the process is never-ending. So an exhibition is not a conclusion.
(Chris Ofili)
Consider Ofili’s statement above. As you develop your ideas and making, do you think of
your working process as a factory or a laboratory?
I worked in a factory for a while, the process is very linear things have to happen in a particular order, if something goes wrong in an early stage ,later stage cannot be completed. I most definitely do not work in such a linear fashion.
Depending upon the work going on in the laboratory, experiments for instance could be very linear ,the outcome though would be unknown, variables can be changed to affect the outcome. This is more the way my brain works, trying things out, learning from experience, changing the variables to achieve different outcomes. However a laboratory is a fairly organised environment, experiments are planned rules are, followed. My laboratory most certainly doesn’t work this way! A sort of chaos reigns, at this stage in my studies ideas flow quicker and faster than I am able to keep up with, each small investigation triggers a cascade of ideas, each bit of research uncovers more threads to follow, and my filtering process of good and bad ideas is very undeveloped.
Ofili also makes the point that an exhibition shows the results of experimentation: it is not a
conclusion. How do you feel about this? Is an exhibition just a point in time that captures your
experiments to date? Or does work in an exhibition need to form some kind of conclusion?
Or can it do both?
I suppose that I have considered an exhibition to be an end result. In reading Chris Ofili’s philosophy on this I am very heartened. On giving the concept some thoughts, clearly the creative process is a journey that is continuous, but perhaps the exhibitions are rest points, breathing space along the way, points of reflection.
At this point and for the foreseeable future my work is very much in progress I like to feel that I will become more focused along my journey at this point anything is possible. I have not yet found my voice, I’m unsure of what I want to say most. I think that I have always been a flitter from one thing to another, and do feel that I can ” turn my hand” to many things, I tire a little of being a Jill of all trades and would like to work towards mastering something well. Indecision is mine enemy.
I love these points of reflection, in hindsight I really do value my experimental work I realise that I have a long way to go, in my mind my experimental work is more important than the final outcome however I still have childish need to feel completion in my work. Even voicing this takes me towards letting this feeling flow behind me, we shall see.
