I deny happy accidents. Nothing is accidental in painting.
We make choice, conscious ones. We sleect which pigments to mix together. We choose the ratio of pigment to a particular medium. We choose a way to apply this mixture and the surface we apply it too. We then choose how to move this around the surface. After this comes the choose of the next step. What parts to remove, which to leave, which to protect, which to work over, which to scrap back. Each of these choices then invovles a range of descisions over the manner in which to take that next step.
Painting is just a sereis of journeys. Just because we are not working towards preconcevied end points it does not mean we have no control over our destination.
We discover things we would never have consciously thought about. But we then consciously deside if we are to reside in the place, to rest there, to move on, to forget about it, to celebrate it, to focus on it or ignore it.
The accident does not exist.
I’m afraid I completely disagree, the accident is an essential part of making a successful work. The good painter, through talent and experience, is able to create a particular environment for a mark to flourish, but what you don’t get is utter control. any attempt at utter control creates dead, predictable marks. equally there is a need for the naive decision, even if that is a consciously naive decision, to force accidents to happen, and then it is down to the intelligence of the artist to mould it to his/her advantage.
Andy
16 Apr 08 at 4:52 pm