BLOGGING – [since 2009]

” One should not ask the artist more that he[she] is able do, and the critic more that he[she] is able to see.” __Georges Braques [French painter]

Welcome to my 24 hour, 365 days a year open studio 10 year anniversary! Since 2009, I have shared over 300 blog posts related to my “engraving” work. My watercolors, ceramics and more recently for the two past year my iPad, will increasingly shape my blog in the future into an other direction and presentation. The technology of the blog has also changed, and this need adaptation and consideration. By ‘open studio’ blog I mean the social media platforms as well. Instagram seem to dominated with 4 different accounts, understandably because of it’s thumb nail type of presentation, perfect for visual work display. On Tweeter I have not been as “present” yet, because the platform limits the number of words – perfect for a journalist but not so for an artist – still every of my blog posts are linked to it nonetheless.

My current blog post link is “draw.rverdaguer.com”. I have used the term “draw” because we use “drawing” to express ourselves whether we are using a pencil, brush, cutting tool or chainsaw…watercolor, iPad. Drawing is the act of allowing our hands to carry and master a gesture, an ‘imitation’ on the Leonardo di Vinci sense of the word. Eventually, yes, an ‘idea’, but hopefully way more than this, a feeling, a perception… At its best, drawing is engaged as a creative expression of ‘grace’, sensitivity, honesty, sincerity, desire, emotion [not of harm or hurt] while simultaneously being firm and decisive, as well. Drawing involves real courage. It means making oneself and one’s work vulnerable to the responses of both admiring and harsh viewers. Art work do triggers response, that is its capacity, for this good and it’s worse an artist can’t escape it! The question remains if it is asked too much of him/her or not enough.

“Art” has become increasingly analyzed and categorized into countless “techniques” to express what ‘it is’ and ‘what it is not’. This perhaps over-analysis has led to ‘movements and tendencies’, such as abstract, conceptual, performing art… to shift towards the view that “art-making” does not need to be grounded in the on-going learning and practicing of drawing skills. Here, ‘how to draw’ is not considered a necessary criteria to the notion of creating ‘art’! My own work, however, remains deeply embedded in the centrality of committing myself to learning and to humbling myself to the ‘how to draw’, in order to continually increase my capacity to be able myself expressing not just and only an ‘idea’.

I view my process not as an art-making but rather as an art-living. What ever I wanted or not, and even so I didn’t choose it, I am a ‘product’ of life or from it. I started my life at point A, it is programed ending at point B. Between this two points lays the margin I am allowed to function, and time will tell if it was worth it. Thank you for reading this lines.