Soap Stone, 4 x 4 in. Late 1990's
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There are some very good images represented on this page, but even while stating this I can tell you that each of them is flawed - and I don't mean flawed in a technical sense, but rather in a conceptual sense, for I know there was something wrong with my thinking while I was making them. Originally, I was not going to include such works on this site, but I now feel it would be incomplete without them.
While there is certainly the potential here for discussion on the values and
the relationships between the artist and their art, their art and the
viewer, and the viewer and the artist, I don't myself understand the
dynamics of these relationships well enough to say anything concrete about
them one way or the other. What I can say, though, as the creator of the
works which follow, is that you might want to view them with a skeptical
eye, for although they are images, they may not be art. Perhaps I'm wrong
about this. Perhaps my definition of art is too narrow, too idealistic, or
too self-centered, but it is what it is - at least for the time being.Back to the works. So what are the flaws? Some of these works are directly
copied from others' works. In some cases I have used other artists' motifs,
although this may not be apparent to anyone but those artists themselves.
Some were made strictly for profit. Some relied on the suggestions of others
for completion. Some were made to impress by their technicality. As for the
others, I'm not really sure what the cause of my discomfort is, though I
sense it regardless; and these works are the most troubling to me. I could
easily rationalize the anxieties away, then try to pass the works off as
art, but something stops me from doing so. I would have to cross a line - a
line of my own making, but a line none-the-less.Why then do I still feel compelled to display these works despite my doubts
about their integrity? Perhaps I feel the works deserve the opportunity to
speak for themselves - that they might be capable of developing a
relationship with a viewer regardless of the opinions of the artist.
(Perhaps this is true of all works.) Or, perhaps I just want an excuse to
get more of my work up and visible.Bob Drouin