Privacy of the artist

Just viewed the photo diary of a photographer, Patrick Tsai, reminding me of Nan Goldin, also thoughts about artists and their private lives. Allow me to post earlier (rather informal) entries concerning the topic. I will also email you a draft exhibition idea concerning that.

#1_Artists (painters, writers, musicians, etc) often expose the most personal part of their lives, the innermost of their minds, in their works. In fact, the works are part of their lives. The most personal, possibly. Then they become the most public. When the piece is inspired by and made for self and/or close ones, where does recognition lie? Who has the authority to judge or even view?

But they expose themselves.

Ourselves.

I wonder why we do that, slicing the body just to reveal the flesh, and let people suck your blood – people who you don’t know. And the intended audience? You will never know if they would take a sip.

#2_Paparazzi annoy some. But come to think about it, where do biographies come from? They are tabloids done professionally (and usually when the person is dead). Personal lives do help us understand, be it the works or aspects in life. And surely we often seek for curiosity. One listens to Beethoven and wonders why he could be deaf. One reads Oscar Wilde and wants to know if he’s gay. One looks at Dalí’s paintings and would like to know who Gala is. One wants to know every detail of Einstein’s affairs without bothering about relativity (he’s not an “artist”, but speaking of biographies…).

And our reason/excuse? They are so great we must be able to learn something from crisis to trivia of their lives.