[Today’s featured artwork for Day 11 of the 365 Days Project is by Laura Von Rosk.]
How do you know when an artwork is finished? How far do you take it before you go too far? Or not far enough?
#11 – A work of art is never finished.
My mind is always working on a sculpture-in-progress. Even while I’m sleeping. Or cooking dinner. Or watching a movie. It will continue working long after I say the artwork is done because a piece of artwork is never really “done”. There are always tweaks that could be made. And even a slight change to one area usually means adjustments will be necessary to the rest of the piece and before I know it, I’ll wind up with a totally different work of art. Sometimes that’s a good thing. It took many years before I learned when to keep going and when to say, “This is a good place to stop.”
Not every piece is meant to be a masterpiece. Some are only explorations on the way to something new. What I’m always looking for is the moment when a piece I’m working on transcends the mundane and enters the realm of the extraordinary.
“How difficult it is in a painting to find the exact point where the imitation of nature ought to stop and the artist move beyond mimesis to that intangible something which resides only in the act of painting.”
Auguste Renoir
Laura Von Rosk’s artwork can be viewed at: Laura Von Rosk
The 365 Days Project
In 2012, Serena Kovalosky committed to writing an article a day for 365 days as an exploration into the lives of artists and the value of creative thinking in our society.
Experience the full evolution of the project! Click below to read the entire collection of articles.
Descriptions of the images included in this post:
Untitled
Laura Von Rosk, New York, USA
Oil on wood
The Fourth Place
Laura Von Rosk, New York, USA
Oil on wood
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