I find artist descriptions to be interesting. Often they are attempts to rationalize and ascribe logic to the lives of individuals who go on to produce things, reading into those artistic objects their aspirations, experiences, tendencies, hopes, thoughts and ideas. But is art so simple, as with political protest, or really, any kind of human action and endeavor? There is no formula like artwork=experiences+thoughts*materialresourcesforexpression. This is a delusional byproduct of certain modes of inquiry that seek to homogenize and explain to the point of absurdity. There is an enormous amount of creative agency, of decision and deliberation, consideration and determination that will forever be beyond or outside of what we can render intelligible and reproducible. Art does not fatalistically follow from events but is one of the most real and profound examples of human agency and capacity to produce something from nothing, to take what is and to transform it into something completely new and novel, fashioning objects that subsequently inhabit the world and inform how we think and live and be. This is why we must protect the space and stature of the artist, whatever project they they actually engage in; their work is key to the stability of our world and our own ability to continue residing – and doing so happily and contentedly – within it.
Bearer of Pity 