About the creative process
Much has been written about the creative process. About what it means or how this process is developed to reach a result. Who doesn't want a magical or understandable formula to create? To create art, to create something new or different, to amaze viewers...
The creative process has diverse components that intervene in the creation of the “work” of art. Another thing would what is the meaning of “work of art”…
It all starts in the mind, in the artist's thoughts... In that first moment where the artist is driven to create, (“In this direction, man feels the drive to create, which is also a tendency to participate in a more beyond the ego” – Phillipp Lersch, The Structure of the personality” Barcelona 1974.
The pink pigment, ©photo by Mamut Pastels
I have been thinking lately about the process of creating represents to me.
Many times, while I work, I enter into a process in which I let myself go, without thought, without premeditation, like something that flows by itself. It is a strange sensation because, on the one hand, it separates me from myself but on the other hand, it takes me to a more interior and personal level, to a more real “Me”, if that makes sense (?). And I am not the kind of person who meditates saluting the sun in the morning. Which has nothing wrong by the way…
“Times goes by”, ©photo by Mamut Pastels 2022
Recently the work of Robert Morris, one of the most representative figures of post-war American art, came to my mind. Conceptual sculptor, artist, and writer, Morris is considered one of the forerunners of minimalism and made great contributions to the world of art.
One of his most outstanding works is “Box with the sound of its Own Making”, 1961.
Movement, ©photo by Mamut Pastels
Morris expresses that the beauty of art is not only found in the final product but also, and especially, in the process of creation itself. In the particular case of the box, Morris created a wooden box that took him about three hours of work. During that time he was recording the sound of the entire process.
He later inserted the sound recording into the box, which can be heard while viewing the work.
A kind of universe… ©photo by Mamut Pastels, 2022
In my hand… ©photo Mamut Pastels, 2022
Finding yourself while developing creative work is one of the most pleasant sensations that we can have. It is to realize, as they say, that the most important is not so much to reach a destination, as to walk the road... in times when most of things are produced by machines or automated processes, it is important to return to the roots.
To the simplicity of some acts as the connection between the person and the materials. And one of the paths is the process of creating itself. Things stop being simple things and are transformed through the energy we put into the creative process.
The process itself is the greatest gift, beyond the result.
Rolled by hand, Mamut Pastels, ©photo by Mamut Pastels, 2022
Mamut Pastels drying, ©photo by Mamut Pastels, 2022
