As a former competitive high school and college athlete the
authority I have to speak about exercise is now limited to the ritual of my
personal workouts - my Monday night winter pick-up ice hockey notwithstanding –
but I have been thinking more and more about how exercise helps strength,
skill, and vision improve over time the same way confidence and clarity
improves over time in art making.
So the working theory I have is art making is exercise...
It’s the discipline to want to see results
It’s the commitment to improve, grow stronger, more sure in
my abilities, and show the resolve to improve weaknesses
It’s the personal responsibility to do the work because it has
to get done and I’m the only one to do it for myself
In my art classes, I’ve called my assignments exercises for
the same reason that my personal go-to’s like jump rope, weight training,
running and yoga are called exercises: they create the circumstances for
personal achievement to occur. They aren’t an end, they are a means.
In my studio I have artwork that’s been started and it can
only be completed by me. The work, an appropriate name for art, albeit too
close a link to economics than the humanities, it implies the process of
completion and satisfaction one feels from a job well done, and the 'work' it may be worked on
over time. And the results may lead to a clearer understanding of the direction
I can go in the next artwork. The
discipline, the commitment, the personal responsibility that are easy in
exercise are the hardest things for me to face in regards to doing the work in
my studio. I can show up to the yoga mat, to the weights, to the road, to my
jump rope, if only every day I could show up to my artwork the same way. The cliché phrase that life is a
journey, not a destination comes to mind and I write it reluctantly, but applying
my theory I consider that my art will not lead me to an end, instead my making
art, like exercise, is a means of living well, achievement, and growth.
There are many issues here to be addressed in upcoming
posts: the gap that exists in art making that is significantly smaller than
that which occurs with fitness; integrating art making into life like exercise;
art making as a form of nourishment; not making art and its effect, like not
working out and how I become an awful person to those close to me; rituals and
their difference from routines; and many more.
Jump rope, weights, running, and yoga are my go-to’s, often
outdoors regardless of the weather. Follow me on Twitter to see what I mean,
@ricky_sears
R
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