The idea of perfection is overrated. I am drawn to the weird skewwhiff imperfections in artworks that make them a little bit wonky and unique.
I discovered my love for the wonky when I was at an artist residency in France and made several artist books. The roll of thick cardboard I had laid under some paper I was painting on became more interesting than the painted papers.
Weird paint marks transferred onto the cardboard which then looked so interesting I tore it into lengths and made a very imperfect woven artist book. After the exhibition installation was complete and packed down, everything got thrown out except for that wonky artist book I brought home with me.
It started a whole new way of creating. I was liberated from perfectionism. Suddenly I could start making artist books again, repurposing old prints, tearing up old artworks, unpicking the stitching and reconfiguring papers into new combinations.
It helps to create multiples of one print or set of drawings. These hold the impulse of thinking from that time. When you rediscover the works that weren’t used, you can see new possibilities. It takes courage to tear into them, to unpick, repaint, draw or print over images you thought were so perfect but didn’t quite make the grade in the first instance.
As I have been sorting and clearing out the garage, old artworks have emerged from under the cupboard and in the paper drawers yelling out “use me, use me”. Seeing them with new eyes, from a different perspective, has revealed they were exactly what I needed to create anew.
This week I should have opened my exhibition Occupy but this has had to be postponed because of the lockdown. It has become an opportunity to revisit the paper drawers and pull out all those artworks which never got framed. It’s meant I have found new ways to repurpose them. Some have become artist books, some collages and constructions.
It’s a great lesson in patience. Given enough time your old works can be made new again. Nothing is ever wasted. Ideas transform and evolve over time. Imperfections make a work unique and valuable. A little bit wonky is a good thing in art.
Waterholes (inside view) artist book 2021