What is it?
Art as labour.
The biggest challenge as an artist, is to say what it is in advance.
It’s what happened as a result of doing the work of doing the labour. Anything else is being patronising to the spirit behind the work. Trying to say what it is, is difficult enough after the fact.
It’s a byproduct of the process.
Sometimes when I call my 3 year old ‘baby’ in a patronising way, she will say…
“I’m not anything” in defiance.
I think it means, into will not be put into your box. I’m bigger than our relationship. I will not be contained by your words.
I interpret, I’m not anything to mean… I am pure potential.
Art is like that.
An artwork is the outcome of art labour. An artist, is a labourer, in service of a vision much greater. A vessel.
All we can do is labour.
Work.
Prompt
What is your work?
Will you commit to it?
Maybe it’s drawing for 10 minutes a day.
Maybe it’s writing 2 crappy pages.
Don’t force an outcome, let it flow through you.
Those are deep thoughts for a baby but I'll bet you're right. Art (and everything else) is whatever the viewer/participant put into it. It's, above all, an intention.