Creative Vulnerability: On Collaboration
At threshold about to venture, taking a place by your side on a new frontier. The pause, being, “Are you taking your time, giving space to consider what these, her words, mean?”. The notion continues, “Be careful not to react, don’t fall back on previous experience. Allow opportunity for a new shape or form of thought to take on precious new meaning and opportunity. Meditate. Slow down. Let go of ego. Chose a brand-new response…. Choose a creative ‘relationship-model’ worthy of this precious new station out on the frontier. Make space for creative innovation. This is a powerful and important person.”
Picking up on the subject vulnerability; A Dutch artist, whom I curated in London, directed me to this discipline. I’d like to hear your (life model) experience, inclinations and desire to move towards it as well. Why and what, if anything, has gone wrong for you in this state? Vulnerability can put one at a disadvantage. As with many human relations; intimate pair-bonding, familial, employer, neighbor…. And while it is wonderful to build trust and be vulnerability in such relationships, this is not at all what I attempt to leverage as an artist.
Vulnerability is, instead, a conscious state engaged with intent, resulting in a strengthening of talent and character. This ‘resilience exercise’ is why I continue to draw collaboratively with no design or formula for outcome. Let alone any hope of leaving behind a sign of ‘success’ such as a ‘good drawing’. The objective is a shared experience of clearing space. It is endlessly fascinating to relinquish artistic narrative. Ironically, doing so often leads to refreshingly new drawings and a surprisingly emotional and beautiful experience.
Paradoxically, when working with someone new, I often fail to articulate how a life-model’s nude form mirrors the ‘naked body’ of such a ‘vulnerability process’. Together, however, clearing the mind and creating connection can be thought of as the actual goal. But “connection to what?”, you might ask. Good question. I don’t know. But I suspect an honest answer will vary from person to person. And any corresponding experience, if one is lucky enough to have one, deeply personal. The paraphrase Ralph Waldo Emerson’s, “God enters by private door into every individual.”, comes to mind. If Emerson is referring to a ‘spiritual experience’, which I choose to believe he does, then connection is not something I simply turn on and turn off while life drawing. Despite logistical preparation and success, I can, and often do, fail to connect.
After so much process, we start. And there is no process! The whole point of the studio, the paper, the music, and moment, is to facilitate stripping away all pretension then creating as much ‘nothingness’ as possible. It is under these circumstances that something mysterious and extraordinary emerges. The act of drawing, it ends up, is a completely safe place to explore. What “content in consciousness” will appear? Am I allowing space for a more than ordinary moment? Such a project, I suspect borrows from mindfulness meditation (also known as trust, kindness and respect). Is there anything better to share with another human being?