“Only those with no memory insist on their originality.” ― Coco Chanel
My journey in art and design started in the Rag industry on 7th Av., as a staff artist for a catalog/magazine that catered to the whole sale traders. As it turns out, I ended up making showroom display pieces, design boards for large retail chains and floor modelling – all the while attending grad school. Through the years, I noticed many wholesalers wrap up shop and move out of the buildings that were once abuzz with people in trendy, if a bit off kilter outfits, long hair for those who had ‘em, and most of all the flamboyant greetings with air kisses and always a halfhearted compliment thrown into the mix of exchange, “you look good”, – “good” delivered as a three syllable word. It is not a coincidence that it is none other than Coco Chanel, whose words should resonate while speaking of art!
Over the years, I watched my rather large studio space fill up with works that made it to shows and those that didn’t. With the advent of internet and social media, the average artist is expected to do much more than simply produce artworks. Albeit, it made it possible for many an artist to be on the map, no doubt! Even so, every artist needs a pit bull dealer, someone who would shamelessly hawk his/her works to further personal profit. Hawking is not in the grain of most artists. Heck, it took a while before I could even talk about my work without being self-effacing! I digress, so, essentially it was the alarming rate at which artwork tends to eat up space that got me addressing old works that I outgrew.
Something amazing that I noticed while reworking on older pieces, the old pieces never quite get erased completely. Hint of pigment peeks out adding depth to the new repurposed piece! So with this work, finished in two afternoons of being snowed in, perhaps I should call it, “The Enabler”, not only did I work directly on the older equine theme without a covering layer of paint or gesso, incorporating old layers of paint into the new work, I also allowed a part of the old work to remain in the new repurposed piece!
