dpstudiolab

This term seems like an oxymoron. What artist wouldn’t agree that every time they have created something a chance has been taken? This is the classic definition of experimentation that is synonymous with taking a chance or risk of a new venture. To an artist this may be nothing new, but there are bigger definitions to be dealt with. It is not enough to stop at taking a chance in a new medium or accept a movement (of art) into one’s influences. Though new to the artist who undertakes the practice, the medium or style is still existent before hand. That is to say, the medium or style is known. The medium itself may not be new and the style is just that; a fashion of a by-gone time. This leaves the artist still confined to a convention or a border within which to work.

Do not confuse border with a frame of reference here. One can easily explore the unknown with a frame of reference. With a border, the artist is locked into a confined space, be it mentally or even stylistically (we cannot yet avoid the borders that real space provides us with… Or can we? More on that later). A frame of reference is an elastic shell or an amorphous blob of what is ‘known’. It’s an organic blob, and as such can grow. To do this, our organic frame of reference must feed. This is something all living things are want to do anyway. A border, on the other hand, is a definite line that clearly divides one section from the next and doesn’t allow for passage of anything, especially information, from one side to the other. Borders are fixed things, not meant to bend or give under pressure. Indeed, borders under pressure are likely to collapse.
(more…)