Omphaloskepsis Blog

Why you do it

May 25, 2015

Why you do it, that is the question to answer.

"People don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it."

Simon Sinec said that to explain successful endeavors. So, why do you do it?

It is my mission as a human and my job as an artist to use art to create deep connections among us.

Here is what Kandinsky wrote on the subject: The artist has a triple responsibility to the non-artists: (1) He must repay the talent which he has; (2) his deeds, feelings, and thoughts, as those of every man, create a spiritual atmosphere which is either pure or poisonous. (3) These deeds and thoughts are materials for his creations, which themselves exercise influence on the spiritual atmosphere. The artist is not only a king, as Peladan says, because he has great power, but also because he has great duties.

I’m in a conversation with the viewer, a very complex conversation, one that functions on visceral, emotional, instinctual, visual, spiritual, neurological and intellectual levels. How awesome is that?! And as if that weren’t already too much awesomeness to take, I get to have this conversation with any medium or combination I choose, and often do!- installation, painting, performance, sound, food, sculpture, curating, writing.

The true work of art, Kandinsky observed, detaches itself from the artist and takes on its own life, becoming an independent being animated with spiritual breath. In my work I do not so much accede to this as seek it. How can it be any other way? Art connects us. It tells us we’re human, we’re like each other, we feel. That’s my mission as a human and my job as an artist to bring about situations through art where this can happen. If art must teach us something about the world we live in, it teaches us that we must reach out to others, that to dig deeper reaps rewards, and that we share the human condition.

People don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it. Why do you create art?