Years ago I began exploring a new way to look at cubism. It was interesting to find that figues laid over each other broke up space and the subject, resulting a new twist on an old established style. But as that work progressed I reached a point where things really became stagnant. New ideas just dried up. For some artists doing the same thing over and over is just a way of doing business. It is a way of putting out work to a consumer market that values predictablity almost to a fault.
Look at the soup cans of Andy Warhol. He basically copied the work of a hard-working commercial artist and called it his own. It would have been one thing if he had just done one, or even a few. But no, it seems he did the whole Campbell series. He copied it, not adding much of his own vision. I’m sure, for him, it was quite lucrative. Not so for the poor man who actually designed the can labels in the first place.
Boring. I cannot for the life of me work that way. I would lose my mind. Actually, I <em>do</em> lose my mind whenever my work hits a lag and becomes repetitive. Earlier ths year, after one of those barren times, I started working with reflections and exploring how those reflections break up the subject. All in a cubist way, of course.
So one thing led to another and the reflections changed and evolved into a kalidescopic style that allowed a range of images from realisticly styled renderings to intensely detailed abstract images that no longer look like what they began with. So, now I am having a great time playing with the Kalidescope style and think it will keep me busy for quite a while.
One final note: While I don’t make a point of criticizing other artists, I do enjoy, and expect, a certain amount of change and growth over time. When I fall into a rut where I keep putting out work that is too repetitive, I frustrated and bored. I have to explore and find new ways to present my work. After all, art is a journey, not a destination.