Artists are persons difficult to deal with? ( Artists in action for Voedselbank ) 2008 / 艺术家，很难相处的人吗？（为食物银行捐助绘画作品的活动）2008
At the end of 2008, an activity of donation was presided over by De Stijl Gallery, during which an auction was held for a painting work completed cooperatively by our 5 artists. The income of the auction was a donation for Vedselbank. In fact that activity was also a part of our exhibition in Wintersalon that year. Since I would go to Portugal to have my driving license replaced, I could only managed to be back to Holland two days before the painting was finished. Therefore I asked the other artists to leave me a blank place on the canvas for painting.
To complete a painting on one piece of canvas by 5 artists was something I had never tried before. I had no idea how to do it. Maybe the other artists might have some experience I guessed. But I was wrong. They knew nothing more than I did. All we had in mind was the impulse and the desire for this co-creation. Then in the following days after I had left for Portugal, things happened were quite funny and theatrical. The 4 artists started their work together for the first day. And the work went on quite smoothly as they’d had a sketch in mind which had already been agreed by them all. But later for the second day things became different. Since everyone had his own time for a day, it meant only one artist could continue the painting each day. But after one person’s creation for a day, the whole painting had been changed. Then facing the changed painting, the next artist had no idea how to continue the work. So he would lay over the previous painting with his own idea and a new painting thus appeared. So the four artists took turns day after day to lay over the paintings of the others' till one day of all of them could not bear anymore. They had big difference in creation and none of them wished to cooperate with the others anymore. Moreover someone even suggested to cut the canvas into pieces and then to paint respectively…Finally in an atmosphere of discord they reached agreement as this: leaving the half done painting for zhongnai to finish with when he came back from Lisbon.
Facing with the brush work in four different styles, I really felt at a loss and helpless. I had noting in mind and even had no idea what to paint and where to start…. All I knew was that I could not lay over the painting again and I must maintain the creating traces of them all. So I worked hardly the whole evening. And the next day five of us sat together and reached an agreement on creation. Actually there were no time for disagreement anymore. The painting was finally completed that evening. Two days later, the painting was successfully sold by auction in a party of a businessman club.
It is said that artists are the persons difficult to deal with. But to me, I don’t quite agree with it as perhaps I am not the one difficult to deal with by others. In fact artists sometimes are the persons really difficult to deal with, as they usually keep their mind or thinking in their world of art. Only in that world could they find and realize themselves, and they believe they belong to that world only. Their thoughts and their way of thinking might be the only element that constitutes their world of art. Sometimes they might confuse their world of art with the life in the real world, thus they might from time to time bring their ideas and concepts of the art world to the real society. It is true that some artists fail to change their roles freely between these two worlds, and this might probably be the reason why they usually granted to be the persons who are difficult to deal with.
Seems going well / 进行中
Totally changed
Mr. Jan van Os
Try to make a connection
after a successful auction.,waiting for a picture taken by a journal in cold, snot was frozen out