“The process is part of the art.” ~Christo
I can not think of an artist more qualified to make that statement than Christo. He and his life partner, Jean-Claude, have produced some of the most grand art of our time. When your work requires millions of yards of fabric, when your canvas is miles of coastline or the most powerful building in a country, and when the crafting takes months, certainly the way you produce your finished product says something. Process is part of the art.
Understanding that the process is part of the art is challenging for artists and for the audience. An artist is challenged because it requires thoughtfulness throughout the journey of creation. The audience is challenged because they are not usually exposed to the entire process. They miss part of the art. However, if both parties embrace the challenge, art becomes much more powerful.
How is an artist to be thoughtful throughout the creative process? This has been a very important question for the Baltimore Love Project, a city wide street art project. First and foremost it is a recognition of what we are. We are a public art project. We maintain design and implementation control so that the original aesthetic vision is cast. Our idea of loving is to use our skill sets to the best of our abilities. This means delivering the highest quality art that we can. It would be hard for us to do that if we gave everyone a brush. We are also frequently asked if we can change the color or the design to cater to an individual neighborhood. Love of self and individuality are important but we think love is more meaningful when it connects rather than divides.
Beyond the aesthetic vision there is a philosophical vision. Because the finished “product” is love we must embody our understanding of love throughout. Our project explores the notion that love is for everyone, and that regardless of circumstances love is possible. The project must live this out even when it is extremely difficult – When we are critiqued for the way the image looks, for the process we are using to make things happen, and even the partners we have worked with on making love happen. We must respect, seek to understand, and honor the dignity of contrary perspectives. Love is tough particularly in the midst of a marathon public art project. But without it, our project losses its message and its power.
How do we share the process with the audience? Information! As artist we often believe that the finished work itself is enough. Unfortunately not all people are as experientially minded as most artists. We must offer information to our audience the entire way. Let the audience decide if they want to be informed prior, during, after or not at all. I can not tell you how many perspectives of our project have changed once people are provided even nominal information beyond our four silhouetted hands spelling out love on the wall. For many people, the availability of information is an invitation to experience the art in a richer way.
As I have explored public art and worked to create an installation, I understand that our strategy of implementation MUST be in line with the aesthetic and philosophical vision. The mechanisms we choose to put our work out there says something about the work itself. And of course we are always willing to share it. When art is more than a finished product, it becomes bigger than itself.
