[From a conversation]
"As for being diaristic and vulnerable. I think that's the best art. The best performance, the best paintings, the best songs, the best videos are diary entries. Really specific snapshots end up being terribly universal, because there is something common about it, even if you haven't had my specific experience. I've noticed that the strongest work I make happens when I'm being very honest about my story and my past. I can't handle the "high art conceptual" side of things, because it seems masturbatory and self-indulgent. It feels like I'm making work just for artists, and I want to make work for anybody. Stories do that the best. Formalism and theory seems like a very self-indulgent mask and coping mechanism to me. You can say all art work is self-indulgent, but I think it is self-indulgent in the conception of the piece, but how the pieces ends up entering into the world is where the self-indulgence either continues (for the worse) or ends (for the better). If artwork is just for other artists that are privvy to some foreknowledge, then it just feels "clubby". If your intended audience is broader I think the work needs to be more accessible.
"In order for my art to be worth someone's time, and I think in order to help my art to actually be engaged with I want it to be "accesible." And I've found that stories are accesible. So that's what I want to try and do. And the stories I want to tell are about my struggles with Christ, because I think that's where hypocrisy begins to infiltrate: when we're not deeply aware of our brokenness and struggles with Christ. And just telling people honestly that life with Christ is abundant and full and amazing, but its also very very very hard. That's what people need to hear. Christ wants to wrestle with you like he did Jacob. He wants to get into the "Godbox" and duke it out and maybe hurt your hip, but in the end he blesses you and loves you and saves you and names you. We need to allow him to win (submission) but sometimes the only way we submit is when we actually lose. But take note that when we lose with God we end up winning."
"As for being diaristic and vulnerable. I think that's the best art. The best performance, the best paintings, the best songs, the best videos are diary entries. Really specific snapshots end up being terribly universal, because there is something common about it, even if you haven't had my specific experience. I've noticed that the strongest work I make happens when I'm being very honest about my story and my past. I can't handle the "high art conceptual" side of things, because it seems masturbatory and self-indulgent. It feels like I'm making work just for artists, and I want to make work for anybody. Stories do that the best. Formalism and theory seems like a very self-indulgent mask and coping mechanism to me. You can say all art work is self-indulgent, but I think it is self-indulgent in the conception of the piece, but how the pieces ends up entering into the world is where the self-indulgence either continues (for the worse) or ends (for the better). If artwork is just for other artists that are privvy to some foreknowledge, then it just feels "clubby". If your intended audience is broader I think the work needs to be more accessible.
"In order for my art to be worth someone's time, and I think in order to help my art to actually be engaged with I want it to be "accesible." And I've found that stories are accesible. So that's what I want to try and do. And the stories I want to tell are about my struggles with Christ, because I think that's where hypocrisy begins to infiltrate: when we're not deeply aware of our brokenness and struggles with Christ. And just telling people honestly that life with Christ is abundant and full and amazing, but its also very very very hard. That's what people need to hear. Christ wants to wrestle with you like he did Jacob. He wants to get into the "Godbox" and duke it out and maybe hurt your hip, but in the end he blesses you and loves you and saves you and names you. We need to allow him to win (submission) but sometimes the only way we submit is when we actually lose. But take note that when we lose with God we end up winning."