poetics and painting...

i've always thought that the arts of writing and painting are sisters. both methods of expression seek to hold a correspondence that transcends its form. alot of my personal heroes and influences have been writers: charlotte delbo, peggy phelan, anne sexton, samuel beckett, sylvia plath...

and their influence on my work might even be tinged with a fair amount of jealousy- there was a time when i double majored in fine art and english, hoping to be become both artist and writer. assuming both titles has been difficult for me. i'm a much more prolific painter than i am poet, and am weary of attributing labels to myself simply because i desire them.

however, writing has immense importance within the visual arts: we all need and rely on artist statements, reviews of exhibitions continue to be written, and even artists themselves, as individuals, journal about their practice. i regularly employ the use of text in my practice, keep a diary of my pursuits and short-comings, collect zines, and have considered much contemporary oil painting (not merely my own) as leaning heavily on poetics and metaphor... so, going back to my original statement about painting and writing being sisters, maybe all writers are somehow painters, and all painters somehow poets?

a while back, i read a statement about poetry and how it differs from prose... something along the lines of prose being defined by what it says, and poetry by what it does not say (send me a comment if you know where i may have read this)... the details that are left-out, alluded to, a collection of fragments that create an atmosphere rather than a world that has been explored and catalogued. this has been my exact approach to curating exhibitions, and the attitude i've held while working on individual pieces of art. this is the foundation of my interest in classified documents and crime-scene evidence, my desire to investigate loss, and the hope i have for establishing lines of communication with others. it is the method i know for offering comfort... even if the only comfort i can extend is the knowledge that no one is alone... someone else has gone through a similar experience, tragedy, or moment of hopelessness. metaphors are the opportunity we have to really connect with the Other- they allow us to see beyond our own situation and internalize the loss someone else has experienced and to experience it as if it were our own. metaphors are powerful things. i am endlessly thankful for the poems, essays, and stories i have read that have served to substantiate the importance of metaphor, and of reaching beyond our differences to find our commonalities.