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Self-portrait 2001 - Chad Swanson Artist statement When creating art, some artists draw from their personal experiences and they use art to express their opinions or emotional response to their world. Perhaps the attraction of the personalistic art is that it acts as a medium for an audience to build an intimacy with a fellow human being. Although I see the value in such art, I usually take more of cultural approach to creation. Instead of using myself as the subject, I usually gravitate towards the type of social issues considered in a liberal arts class or a newspaper. This is understandable considering that I did bachelor degree in the liberal arts (sociology/ social psychology) and a master degree in communication (media practice). In addition, I've lived four years in Japan and China where culture was the chief focus of contemporary art practice. My cultural approach is also reflected in my technique. Like contemporary Aboriginal artists, Australian landscape painters and the likes of Picasso, Gauguin and Zhang Dazhong, I believe the pathway to quality art is to learn skills, ideas and techniques from who have gone before and who walk aside. Just as dancers look free because they have spent years refining their steps, visual art is only truly free after years of dedication has given the artist the ability to work intuitively. Even though my cultural approach means my art is somewhat de-individualised, I still believe it is possible to create a sense of intimacy with some audiences. This intimacy isn’t of the kind that one may feel when looking at the emotional works of Vincent Van Gogh, it is more like the intimacy that may be felt when looking at the works Andy Warhol. It is not about one human to another, it is about many humans considering an issue that is relevant to their world.
Quotes I identify with Anaïs Nin: "I postpone death by living, by suffering, by error, by risking, by giving, by losing" Brett Whitely: Francisco de Goya: Erich Fromm: George Braque: James Baldwin: Richard Flannigan: Jürgen Habermas: Cui Jian:
Gundawarra installation (1998) with painting Waiting for Adam (2009)
Gundawarra installation (2009) with paintings Afghans Lose their Camels (2009), Blue Skies Over Desert Church (2009), The Lone Dancer (2009), Dreamtime (2001), Smoko (2009) EducationI am a little disillusioned with art education, largely because I completed a Diploma of Art and worked for 4 years in an art school cafe where I was exposed to a great deal of student art. In my experience, with so many abstract expressionists and installation artists becoming teachers, skills have been devalued to the extent that art educators are often nothing more than carbon blobs that see themselves as "facilitators" of creativity. In my opinion, if someone needs their creativity to be stimulated, art just isn't a profession for them. In addition, there has been a tendency for art teachers/administrators to segment art off from wider society, which I see as akin to a musician saying that he or she doesn’t want to play in front of a live audience. Artists are part of a community, not a separate community in themselves. I feel that those who argue otherwise tend to be people who have gained a position in an institution for reasons other than merit, and thus want to speak on behalf of a mythical artist community that they really don’t have any authority to speak for. Although I didn't really value my education in art, I did value my education in general and it was my education in the social sciences and the media that really informed my artistic practice. My first degree was in psychology (mostly social psychology) and sociology. By doing a degree with a focus on society, I developed the kind of approach to art that was seen during the renaissance, where artists were expected to be students of the liberal arts, as well as the creative arts. The insights they gained from sociology, philosophy, history and theology were combined with their creative minds to explore concepts in the emotional, moral and logical realms.
My master degree was in professional communication (mostly media practice). This was important for two main reasons. Firstly, the media is a mirror upon its readers and by understanding the media, artists can gain insights into their audience. For example, pop artists like Andy Warhol searched the media to find iconic imagery that could resonate widely. By having a social focus, Warhol's work was interesting to a broad body of people. Secondly, the media is a medium of visual and conceptual communication. Pictures, texts, video, and forums are used to inform, question, provoke emotions, divide, unite and generate feelings of community, as much art also tries to do. In many respects, media workers have the skills used by great artists. For example, journalists that writes/makes colour pieces need to be in tune with the emotion of their environment, and then communicate that emotion with scenes, sounds and metaphoric imagery. In that regard, they are like an impressionist painter. Likewise, photographers familiarise themselves with social issues and then decide on a scene and a perspective in order to support the story dealing with the issues. The only reason why I wouldn't call them artists is that they have clear intentions in their communicative methods. For me, art is that which goes into the realms beyond understanding. It is ambiguous in its journey and not literal in its communication. Despite the difference, the artist and the media workers draw upon the same technical skills and can learn from each other.
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