As an artist’s career develops, the fashion is to usually make bigger and better work, especially in the field of video art. The act of making things privately in the studio, as in more craft based practices is being slowly erased from the visual arts because of this pressure to make high production work. As high production values become more important there is a real danger that the work becomes more about glossy surfaces rather than depth of content.
In my working process I am a blank canvas on which all the invisible means of production become visible. The fact I do all the production jobs from the camera man, lighting, directing, makeup, editing, producing, remixing sound, styling and acting/singing emphasizes my personal belief that the magic and beauty of art is not necessary in hiring the right professional, but in making it yourself. That’s why I choose to be an artist rather than a film director, the fact I see the mechanisms of what is going on in a piece while making it and can choose to deconstruct and respond immediately to this process if I want to.
Inspired by performance artists from the 1960’s this alternative structure means that I have nowhere else to hide. I can’t blame anyone else if the lighting is not right but I also don’t have to share the process or the power in making it which remains potent throughout. Therefore to me, the point of making art is to take full responsibility for it, by accepting my specialized technical limitations and still rise to the enjoyable challenge of producing well-made, original, thought-provoking work regardless of this fact.
By taking into account my own shortcomings I am able to see them not as failures but positive personal limitations which inherently make me me and not someone else and uniquely define my work as an artist. Taking full responsibility as the maker also means I have to go deeper into my own self, challenge my personal boundaries and adapt by learning new skills rather than detach from the process. And hopefully learn something valuable about myself in the process.
Myself as the origin of the work means accepting and forgiving my lack of perfection and this enables me to leave my imprint within the entire ‘handcrafted’ process. And this is where the simplicity and potential beauty in this way of working lies: I made it, I handcrafted myself. That is why I believe in the validity of ‘Handcrafted Videos’ as the basis for my practice for now and in the future.
