Should Artists Talk? #2

"Ordinarily we do not make full use of our faculty for seeing...So much escapes our perception, either due to indolence, or because of our preoccupied thoughts, or simply because our visual sense has not been disciplined to more active and substantial use. Drawing is a discipline of vision. It heightens perception. Drawing = seeing, as we have already said, but the nature of the equation is complex and elusive; the complexity is compounded by misconceptions and the elusiveness increased by the ambiguity of words."                

- Edward Hill, The Language of Drawing

 Yes, words are tricky. They entice me to think that I can pin something down with them. They claim to stay put, but then they don't.

 The line that forms a letter and a string of letters represents a sound. The sounds talk to me. They buzz.

 The line that makes a form is just that; a form. It is absolutely silent. This drives some people crazy. Even me. I like to be reassured by sounds, by words. I even assign words to my forms - but they don't stick. I mean, they do for a few weeks sometimes or even months. Then they begin to slip. Just a little at first, and as soon as I notice I quickly pin them up again. But then when my back is turned they slip even more. They slink down the wall and wind up in piles on the floor underneath my drawings. Sometimes I pick them up and sometimes I just leave them there. I can always sort through them later. That's my excuse. And its a fair one. Nothing worse than an artist who talks about their work and never works.

 But the piles of words are getting bigger and bigger now. I can see that. They're getting noisy. I have to step over them to get to work. What can I do with them?