Lately I have been noticing that much of the head space I need to be in while making my art is one that is comfortable with making mistakes. The search that goes into making art is an essential ingredient. Work that is born out of plenty of mistakes and corrections, at least in my experience, ends up having a potency and a depth all it’s own.
In leading workshops I have always tried to create an environment that makes mistake-making permissible. However, now I go one step further and come right out and say that the series of inevitable mistakes about to be made as they embark on a new work is essential, required even, if they want to produce amazing art. Mistakes and the resulting corrections are as important as color, texture and even design in art.
What makes mistakes so essential in Art? Interestingly, this is not often discussed.
Everything that can be seen in a painting, such as composition, color, or form, etc. is often clearly analyzed. However the “feeling” one gets when standing in front of a painting is somewhat more ambiguous and of course subjective. This “feeling” is enhanced by the evidence of risk taking (code word for trying something and then correcting it).
I am drawn to work that has been born from this search. It just feels more substantial. It also seems to acknowledge my experience not just in my own art making but also in my life. Almost everything worthwhile comes with a struggle. Whether it is a painting, a relationship or even the myriad of important choices one makes in life. It is all just one string of half starts, recalibration, trials and errors.
When our art shows the evidence of this it becomes more ratable. There simply is more “room” in the painting for the viewer to occupy. This “outward facing” acknowledgment of the viewer, whether it is deliberate or not, seems to be integral to strong work. This more relateable work is collected more often. People simply want it in their lives. I believe this is because it serves as a reminder that mistakes are not only unavoidable but, more importantly, there is the distinct possibility of greatness inherent in their correction.
Does this ring true for you? Does it effect your art?
I am curious.
With Gratitude,
Nicholas
PS – Please do share your thoughts in the comments below.
6 Comments
Hi! I’m
Nicholas Wilton
the founder of Art2Life.
With over 20 years experience as a working artist and educator, I’ve developed a systematic approach that brings authenticity, spontaneity and joy back into the creative process.
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some excellent observations here. you put into words many of my thoughts regarding my art process. if you read some of my blogs, etc on my site, you’ll see remarkable similarities (that is if i read you correctly).
in doing abstract painting, the process i call “erasing” (painting over) is essential to finding a road to travel.
if you get a chance, read my analogy comparison of realistic and abstract work. you might find it amusing and germane.
joe mcaleer
Thanks Joe–I will go check it out!
I understand exactly what you say but have trouble with the term “mistake”. It smacks of dogmatic right and wrong, things I can’t associate with art making. A piece either “works” or it doesn’t – I view pieces that don’t “work” for me as simply being unresolved. Reasons for this vary but the fact remains the intuitive artists aren’t following the same path as realists. We are are plotting a previously uncharted course, even with works that are part of a specific series. As such mark making and shape defining is essentially an act of faith coupled with trust in our years of training and experience. I think it’s much easier for realists because they can always consult reality for accuracy – of course their burden is in selecting imagery people want to look at or live with.
Your commentary on “mistakes” simply seems to me to explain the inevitable trial and error, hit or miss process inherent in the art making method of probing and experimenting to find out how any given painting defines itself. None of these actions with brush and paint strike me as mistakes because they always lead us somewhere new whether or not we decide to keep those elements in the painting’s final resolution or eliminate them immediately. Process is process. Our job as artists is knowing when to stop.
Susan–I guess you could use any word –doesn’t have to be mistake–could be just whenever you say yes and whenever you say no–I mean that internally-no judgement on it –just whether it relates to you aesthetically or not. Thanks for those thoughts..
I totally agree. I sometimes refer to it as “analysis paralysis.” Whatever you call it, the culprit is fear. The best breakthroughs often happen when I have reached an apparent impasse in a painting and decide to just attack it with abandon. Magically, the way becomes unblocked (usually). Evidence of the search has a beautiful resonant depth to it. But there is also great satisfaction in a masterful stroke – born in the embrace of many previous mistakes. 🙂 Still, the energy of life is in the journey and learning/growth requires choices with feedback.
By way of Brene Brown, I enjoyed your philosophy of organization where what is uncategorized ends up in box behind the couch called Art.
I spend a good part of my day thinking about thinking. I do come by a minor obsession with mistakes as a scientist and now as my mother’s caregiver. Experiments done well demand you account for any bias in hypothesis and methodology and avoid mistakes. Nothing drives scientists crazier than intermittent “errors” because it’s mostly likely an issue with your setup but it might be something unexpected and worth rethinking your whole idea. The next great invention is in there.
In dealing with my mom’s “diminished cognition”, I’m in a guessing game for filling in the gaps for a memory/brain that also works intermittently and you never know on what the crucial failure will appear. I watch her try to find the word and if she does not give up in frustration, then taxi to the hospital(her) translates to be ambulance (me). It’s not a mistake exactly but it’s a different way to get to the same place.
I guess there’s a place in making art that has got intermittent thinking too. You get to vacuum it out of the couch cushions as needed.
Anyway, these may be of interest to you on your brain and the process of making mistakes- a wetware/hardware thing.
Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error. Kathryn Schulz
Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts Carol Tavris & Elliot Aronson