Louise Bourgeois
How timely that my eyes fell upon this quote in my many pages of quotes about art today!
Silence and I are having a moment. I find myself thinking about it, exploring it, delving deeper into trying to understand it. Wondering is it even possible for silence to prevail?
So for Ms Bourgeois to say that we need to live within silence in order to create and make art, makes me wonder what that looked like for her. I wonder if it means that she worked in solitude (which isn't of itself silence); if she closed the door to the studio and kept the outer world at bay.
The essences of her words seem to me to be about the need for quiet moments. The quietude of mind and silence from which thoughts and feelings can come forward and into expression. It suggests to me that noise and frenzy are not at all conducive to her life as an artist. And I know it is so for me.
I need quiet places and quiet spaces to let my thoughts slow, my mind unwind and enable me to focus on the work.
I am not so sure I need to exist fully in a world of silence, but I am pretty sure that silence is a prerequisite for my times of making.
Sentinel, 2010.
I have not had an opportunity to view Louise Bourgeois' art in person, but your pondering brought to mind Agnes Martin, who I imagine valued silence as she worked ... her paintings are themselves a form of silence that echoes from their making ... as are your works
ReplyDeleteI need silence for making, quiet to look, think, try... to sit with a thought a while, mulling over what ways it can go. I read of artist who enter their studios and get music playing right away, drawing energy from that, their enthusiasm growing with each note. It would have the opposite effect on me and send me packing!
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