Yet I don’t think artists have a responsibility to make their work overtly political or to make a specific social commentary – though for some this is clearly their calling. While I think the answer for some is more politically oriented work, it has at its foundation the individual’s own self-realization that this is how they must express themselves in the world. I think the world changes from the inside out, much the same way that the universe is made up of the smallest things. If you accept that everything is connected and that what you do has an effect on the whole, then the more “aware” one is, the less clear the line between self and other/world, or “one” and “many” becomes.
A few artist that first come to my mind when I think of what work has changed my perception as an artist are Louise Bourgeios, Josiah McElheny and more recently David Altmejd.
The photography of Josiah McElheny’s affects me in that the work mirrors itself endlessly, yet there is no “I” reflected back in the surface. When I look at these for a long time I become disoriented by the vast space and have the sensation that I am floating. If one were to view the works in person they would see themselves reflected, yet I am drawn to the way the photograph subverts the observer. Read through the lens of the question “who am I?” it answers back “I am not my body.”
Louise Bourgeois’ sculpture has also deeply affected me. She said: “For me, sculpture is the body. My body is my sculpture.”
David Altmejd was a graduate of Columbia MFA in 2001. I discovered him online recently and was so amazed to see him skillfully using many elements I have been trying to incorporate into my own work: Crystals, pyramids, light, the figure etc.
http://www.andrearosengallery.com/artists/
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