I like the slowness of sculpture, the distance process puts between decisions. But all that process is also a worry. As someone said to me the other day, “isn’t it all just a bit technical?”
And in a few words they effortlessly distilled some complicated expectations we have about art and creativity that there’s no space to unpack here but which have caused me enough angst over the years.
Another friend put it differently a few months back when we were speaking about Chillida’s laughable musings on everything ( some misguided member of his foundation had gathered them together in a book after his death which I’m certain he wouldn’t have wanted!)
I wondered how come the maker of such brilliant sculptures could write such airy guff.
He said “It’s all sculptors John, they are fucking nuts. It’s cos they are confused as to whether they are steel fabricators or welders or stonemasons or not”
I think he was probably right.