Writers often speak of their fear of ‘the blank page’ when referring to the incapacity to write anything new, that is said to come over every author at some point, known as writer’s block. Whilst working in the studio today on the intellectually undemanding task of stretching canvasses I was wondering how this translates over to visual arts, and whether the blank canvas can be considered an equivalent of the blank page despite it not being such a common expression in this context. I speak for myself only, but I don’t remember ever standing in front of a blank canvas frustrated by the lack of ideas as to what to put into it; though I couldn’t even begin to count the amount of times I’ve stood in front of a messy canvas frustrated by the irreparable disaster it has become.
A blank canvas is all possibilities, like the arrival of a new baby whose wellbeing and future is in your hands but you only have a rough idea of what to do for things to go the right way.
I’ll keep you informed on how this one’s growing up.
Los escritores a menudo hablan de su temor a ‘la página en blanco’ cuando se refieren a la incapacidad de escribir algo nuevo, que dicen aqueja a todo autor en alguna ocasión, conocido como el bloqueo del escritor. Mientras trabajaba hoy en el estudio en la intelectualmente poco exigente tarea de tensar lienzos sobre sus bastidores, me preguntaba qué traducción tendría esto a las artes plásticas, y si el lienzo en blanco puede considerarse como el equivalente de la página en blanco a pesar de no ser una expresión tan común en este contexto. Hablo sólo por mi, pero no recuerdo haber estado delante de un lienzo en blanco frustrado por la falta de ideas que verter en él; pero no podría siquiera intentar contar las veces que he estado delante de un lienzo guarreado, frustrado por el irreparable desastre en que se ha convertido.
Un lienzo en blanco es todo posibilidades, como la llegada de un recién nacido, cuyo futuro y bienestar están en tus manos pero solo tienes una ligera idea de qué hacer para que las cosas vayan por donde deben.
Os mantendré informados según vaya creciendo éste.
14 comments
Marisa Mancilla says:
ene 11, 2013
Cuanta razón
Eme says:
ene 11, 2013
Were you wandering while you were wondering?
mcar says:
ene 11, 2013
Were you wondering while wandering?
Simon Zabell says:
ene 11, 2013
Touché! I wonder why I wandered away from the correct spelling. Has been corrected
Gustavo ALcalá-Zamora says:
ene 12, 2013
Blanco es una palabra muy ambigua…
Simon Zabell says:
ene 13, 2013
Claro Gustavo, aunque en este caso supongo en realidad no es una cuestión de color sino más bien una referencia a la ausencia de contenido… la página en blanco y el lienzo en blanco como la mente en blanco.
Anton Hart says:
ene 13, 2013
This is quite interesting Simon… as a painter I often start with no firm ideas in the bag approaching the blank canvas… I find its sometimes better that way… as Jasper Johns said in 1963 or 64… ‘Take an object. Do something to it. Do something else to it.’….
Simon Zabell says:
ene 13, 2013
Thank you Anton, I wasn’t familiar with that Johns quote, I love it. Being a bit of a control freak myself, I don’t think I have ever approached a blank canvas without having an idea. Obviously once I get started the idea may be transformed partially or completely… but… I guess my question is, how do you start painting with no idea of what you think you want to achieve? where do you put the first marks and in what colour?… this needs some idea doesn’t it? I’m sure there’s a coherent quick answer to these questions.
Even artists like Pollock must have started a new canvas with an idea, or did he pick up the cans of colour without looking?
sonia says:
ene 16, 2013
…es silencio!
KAPUSCINSKI ON THE BEACH CHAIR / KAPUSCINSKI EN LA SILLA DE PLAYA | Simon Zabell Blog says:
ene 22, 2013
[...] trying to chill from the frustration of not being able to straighten my ideas regarding what I want my blank canvas to turn into, by reading something totally unrelated to art, as I often do. There are few things I [...]
Jesús Zurita says:
mar 11, 2013
Le conmino a escribir sobre The Jam, The Who y los años de formación Bello-artística. No lo rehuya; le incumbe.
Simon says:
mar 12, 2013
Poco a poco Sr Zurita.
Sebastián Saavedra says:
jun 1, 2013
¡Que verdad!. Ese momento frente al lienzo, frente a esa tarea…
Andrea Chavarin says:
jun 2, 2013
tienes toda la razón, mas que el writers block me pasa que me quedo con cuadros en proceso que digo… que es esto!!!