// We are far too young and clever//
Art has a way of evoking emotion from people, whether it be a painting, a photograph, a sculpture or anything else.
As an artist, this is something I have struggled with; having my art convey emotion.
I think this is partially because I tend to stray away from personal meaning in my work.
But then I tried something new.
It started with a quote, “No not us, we are far too young and clever”
This quote has been overlooked for years, for the chorus and the ‘too ra loo ray ays’ are much more fun to sing. If you haven’t guessed it already the song is Come On Eileen.
This single quote has been floating around in my head for quite some time, but I never knew what to do with it.
So I began to make a connection with being a teenager. Being young was a destructive time for me, I thought I was invincible, I did too many drugs, I struggled with anoxeria, and above all I made too many mistakes.
I thought for sometime how I could portray that in art, but everything I thought of seemed to cliche, and too obvious.
Then, as I pondered on ideas, across the room I saw a book of matches.
And it came to me.
I was going to write out this quote in matches, burn it, and what remains would be a metaphor to the aftermath of being a teenager, and despite how hard you try you will never be able to get those years back.
So after a trip to lowes for matches, and the art store for a 36 by 48 inch canvas, the real work began.
I spent hours upon hours poke thousands of holes into the canvas for where the matches would go. I spent hours upon hours taking my time to carefully place each match in a orderly fashion. For the past two weeks, I haven’t left the studio. I have splinters in my hands from the match sticks and blisters on my fingers from my exacto knife.
Today was my day to present it. At first glance it seems almost unimpressive. Just a canvas, just a quote, just some matches; you cannot even begin to fathom how many hours it took, or that there were over 2000 matches in the canvas.
Then, I lit a match. The swoosh of a match lighting happened over and over again, so quickly as every letter went up in flames.
The heat was outstanding.
I stood back, me, my teacher, and my fellow students watched as the matches and the canvas slowly disintegrated.
Something happened as I watched over 25 hours of work go up in flame. Something so overwhelming I’m not even sure I can begin to put it in words. As my entire class was silent, I felt a part of me releasing. I felt everything that has been pent up for years leaving. The anger, the hate, the pain and the sadness, it was all gone. All of a sudden I had let go of something that has been haunting me for a long time. The person I used to be was gone, and left was the person I’ve become.
Maybe that sounds silly, how could something so minimal leave me so emotional?
This is something that I will never be able to answer, for I don’t even know.
But then, as the fire slowly went out I looked at my classmates.
Then one began to speak. She began to talk about how much this piece reminded her of the person she was when she was younger, she told me how perfect the quote was and how the message was so clearly displayed, yet you didn’t see it coming.
As almost every student spoke up to agree with her, I realized that I had done the one thing I have always dreamed of doing with my art, I had made them feel exactly how I wanted them to.
Art is a funny thing, and I find myself sometimes getting discouraged with my work, but today is a day I will never forget.
I am an artist, and I always will be.
