MNteractive

I was lucky enough to attend the Chuck Close discussion at the Walker last weekend. (July 24, 2005)

Chuck Close as an artist has quite a bit to give our community. He works from photographs he has taken of large heads of people that he knows.These photos include many of himself. In fact, that is what the exhibition is about. Chuck Close: Self-Portraits 1967-2005.

He recreates these heads in endless mediums and at different levels of abstraction. He uses the same source material to create endless variations in multiple manifestations. He said something about this in the talk that resonated strongly with me about how we need to do our work. He said, ‘the process will set you free.’

He is creative within his constraints. In fact, the constraints allow the creation to flow out. That seems like a key message for interactive practicioners. The process can set us free.

I encountered this at my last job when I first started with the company. A process was defined that allowed us to approach work in a repeatable manner. Parts were already defined for us so we were free to fill in the blanks regarding the specific needs of the specific work. We didn’t have to reinvent the wheel around what we were going to do just as Chuck Close didn’t reinvent the wheel as to what he was going to create. Source material.

He said something else that I found to be most relevant for us. If you wait around for inspiration it might never come. Just get to work is the message he conveyed.