Is there such a thing as a successful artist, or does the measure of success lie in the art itself? Van Gogh’s struggle with his inner daemons and his last days in the asylum, Lucian Freud known for his unconventional behavior and his nude portraits that showed both a keen interest and a kind of clinical impassiveness for the flesh…does the artist need to live out his/her life as some sort of a social outcast in order to truly be able to be in touch with her own inner compass?
Having visited the Torpedo Art Factory recently to attend an opening of a show that had my works a second time around since 2011, I saw many of the artists I had met the first time around, some of them have created new works others revel in the process of art making in a well-equipped facility overlooking the Potomac River. Torpedo bears the history of American involvement in the Second World War – the Mark 14 submarine torpedo used by U.S. Navy personnel in the Pacific theater of the war was produced there. Over 70 years after its decommissioning as a munitions depot, the history of the Torpedo Factory is a fascinating tale of politics, faulty weapon engineering, and local spirit. Alexandria’s Torpedo Station manufactured almost 10,000 torpedoes that were estimated to be responsible for damaging or sinking almost 1,500 ships. The facility was converted into an artist’s work space in the early 70s, today it is perhaps the largest artist’s residency in the world!
Revisiting the state of angst that most artist’s experience, the state that drives them to produce art in the first place, might exist because of the awareness of the ephemeral nature of beauty/truth. The understanding that no matter how close one comes to manifesting his/her idea of beauty/truth, it holds true only for a short span of time…
Here are some of the resident artists I visited and experienced their work:
Lisa Schumaier, Rosemary Covey, Beverly Ryan, Rosemary Feit Covey, Marcos Texeira, Susan Makara, Michele Montalbano, Eric Wallner, Sheep Jones
