This text was initially published in June 2023.
Last week, I took Tatiane the Architect to visit the Guggenheim in Bilbao, an iconic modern art museum I studied back in college. I thought I’d never get to see it in person, so it wasn't even on my bucket list. For years now, I feel I'm beyond any dream.
The three hours I spent wandering through the galleries took me back to 20 years ago when I was a decent observational sketch artist and saw a future as a museum art curator. You know I was an architect, but you probably didn't know that my first choice for a degree was Fine Arts, right? Look at that! I’ve been talking to you for five years, and there’s still so much you don’t know about me. And there’s so much about myself I’ve forgotten, too.
Looking at the works of artist Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, I remembered my first experiments with charcoal:
“Oh yeah! How I loved using charcoal!”
“How can someone have that inside them and just throw it away?” My husband asked with surprise.
Yeah. It’s been over 13 years since I’ve last drawn anything.
Lynette has been painting for 20 years. And she's still a young woman in her 40s.
Since returning from the trip, I’ve been thinking about how (poorly) I handle the intensity I put into my projects. The intensity is so overwhelming that it breaks the muscle and starves consistency.
Consistency, the queen of time, allowing everything to happen, grow, improve, and last.
In my case, the intensity I put into my work makes everything else in my life starve. And this is how I've been living—unsustainably—for the past few decades.
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Another artist featured at the Guggenheim is Yayoi Kusama, who recently gained (more) fame through her collaboration with Louis Vuitton. She’s been painting the same theme (her obsession with colorful dots) since she was 10. Almost a centenarian, she’s been painting the same theme for over 80 years.
I came back from the trip overwhelmed by self-questioning:
How would I spend my days if earning a living wasn’t necessary?
What’s that one thing that fuels me so much and gives me such great pleasure that I can do it bit by bit, shaping it step by step, without burning out in the process?
Thanks for reading!
Bisous,
Tati