Real Art Lost in Structured Conformity

When I first began as an artist I had a clear style, abstract expressionist. Abstract expressionist is when the artist creates, paints, draws or sculpts from feeling rather than a more confined source of inspiration. A painter might choose colours and pour than onto a canvas with or without a brush. This was the style that I loved to paint in when I first began to paint with acrylic paint. I was further inspired by the work of Lila Irving from Mississauga Ontario. Lila poured acrylic paint from tubs onto huge canvas, and let the colours mix naturally. I truly did enjoy the freedom and excitement of painting, and all of my art dripped with pure emotion. So what has changed for me? As I began to get more serious about selling my art I had more and more seasoned artists and curators commenting on my art. The biggest complaint that I got was that I had failed to create cohesive enough series of paintings, instead I tended to simply create art based on no structure, each painting could be vastly different from the next. What I am trying to day is that this tendency was pointed out as an artistic flaw, one of an inexperienced artist. i have since spend a number of years trying drastically to paint in series of works, at least eight or more paintings of the same theme at a time.

I am not sure at this point if this has made me a better painter, sure my shows looked cohesive and the paintings looked good as a group, but was my art really better than it was when I started. At this point I would argue no. Some of my best work was done with no thought at all as to what it would fit in with or weather it was similar enough to hang as a show. Perhaps some of the best art is developed with the least amount of over thinking, and little attention to the audience that will view it in the end. I feel that I am moving back to the expressionist art that inspired me the most, playing with colour, texture and shape with a childlike enthusiasm. I am not sure where i will end up, but the journey seems more important than the end product. I am inspired by artists who stick to their gut instincts, such as Brenda Gale Warner, an artist who runs galerie 240 in Ottawa, ON. She is an expressionist artist who really sticks to her internal instinct when it comes to her art. Each of her paintings are unique and really stand alone, they don't follow any strict rules at all. All of her art is unique and from the heart, mind and soul. Keep it up Brenda, you inspire me to break free from the rules of the art world.