Not Good Enough!
Why don't we share our work?
Hello again, it’s been a while. It seems like each new school year absorbs time from creating and I didn’t realize just how long it had been since my last article. In the time since I last wrote, I have been working on how to bridge the gap in the title of this post. Yesterday I had the chance to chat with Des, the co-owner of 818 Darkroom in the Valley, and we were discussing projects for 2024. I brought up the idea of collaborating on an art show and Des suggested the title “Not Good Enough!” and it got me thinking.
Over my career, I have amassed rolls of film, hard drives, and failed work that have led to the pieces I would eventually share with the world. As we continued to talk I realized that there are hundreds, if not thousands of images that I love but would have never shown before, as making art was my only stream of income. As artists who work exclusively in the field they create, it is difficult to share our tests and experiments as it may be the exact reason we don’t get hired. Over the past four years of teaching, I have tried to unlearn this, but it is still very difficult as I am always worried if it’s good enough, or if anyone really cares to see it.
In a world that tells us everything must be for a cost, it de-incentivizes creativity and exploration. It’s the reason I have procrastinated on finishing scripts or simply creating any work of art. I continue to catch myself saying it’s not perfect, and therefore not even worth exploring. As I continue to teach I try to tell students to create what speaks to them knowing a capitalist society will eventually talk them out of that way of thinking, as it did to me for quite some time. So the question is, what would I create if I didn’t care about how much money it makes? What stories would I explore? What art will I create? I have tried to do this most of my career, knowing that financial wealth is not the end game. As the year comes to an end I am going to try and get out of my own way and just let my art be my art. While I hope you all enjoy it as well, first and foremost I must create to explore how I see the world. If it’s not about the money then why shouldn’t you make what you want?
