A common thread
that I’ve seen throughout many artist statements or mission statements is the
idea of a symbiotic relationship between the artist and their intended
audience. There are ‘I’ statements and reasons for why the artist needs to
produce the art for themselves but they generally mention how they hope to
influence or be influenced by other people. Rather than doing art just for
the sake of doing art, socially engaged art finds its connection to a group, a
person, a community, etc. in order to be true to itself.
Several of the
bullet points from Otake’s artist statement suggest this idea: “Be available
for others and be with others. Self-produce, co-produce and walk around letting
people know that your art and your body are available. Host guests and feed
people. Communicate, collaborate and infiltrate.” Celeste discusses it near the
end of her statement when she states, “I want the work to stimulate the viewer
to create metaphor. I want to create an experience for the audience where they
can be engaged in the process of performance, rather than the consumption of
the experience.”
As far as my
own aesthetic is concerned, I think developing is the key word. I know that I
enjoy collaborating with others because I often feel overwhelmed by the possibilities
at the beginning of and throughout a project. It’s nice to have voices that you
respect giving you input. That being said, I like working in small groups because
too many voices can be just as overwhelming.
P.S. When looking up other artist's statements I came across Jaime Black, specifically a project she did in 2014 called the REDress project which she describes as "an aesthetic response to the more than 1000 missing and murdered aboriginal women in Canada." This description shows how aesthetics can be used as a verb/action as suggested in the transcript.
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