Parallel Lines: The Gift
© Yushi Le
For how much insight individual interviews may provide to a young artist photographer, the most useful advice somehow always comes from tidbits of the most unexpected conversation with the creative director of that gallery you accidentally ended up at the opening of. Somehow, being young and curious in a city like Paris or New York exposes you to an often unrequited but priceless treasure: the experience of people who have (almost) seen it all. This article is an ode to those pearls gifted to me in the past few months having moved to Paris. For context often seemingly pretentious and cryptic, these pieces of advice all stem as a gift from established artists and curators towards a curious and ambitious soul stepping in the art world from an economics background.
© Karim El Maktafi
Do not try to explain anything to anyone with your art. Rather, pose yourself questions that matter to you and explore them, squeeze them, turn them around, ask them repeatedly to yourself and those around you. People will naturally answer with their experience and you will simply have to digest that. Art is digesting experience and emotions. Eat them all.
You do not have to learn painting. You just have to paint (said with an extremely serious face, as if revealing one of the world's best kept secrets — and isn't it, after all?). Just get in touch with your essence and open the door. Let the juice flow. People might show you how to paint, but no one can teach you what to paint — which is the difficult part. The how just comes with practice.
If you are working on a topic because you keep hearing people talk about it, most probably you're not going to be honest about it. You're not touching your own heart. You're trying to touch others but you can't touch anyone big you're not digging in yourself first
© Karolina Wojtas
You cannot run away from your demons and expect to get them out at the same time. Either you sit within the shadows of your soul, or you'd rather not try to make art.
Let any project sit in your mind — and your heart more than anything for at least one week before even starting to plan how to approach it. Time always tells you if the idea is honestly relevant for you. After all, a project might (and should) become your whole life for months.
Especially as an artist, your most important tool is not an object. It is your energy, your aura. Artists feed off emotions and energy, which is why you will get back exactly the same sort of energy you give out. Your people sense it. And they are just looking for you.
Take the time for sprouts to sprout on their own. No one can ever force ideas to come out, but there is more to that. Observing the process of ideas sprouting in your mind can be extremely fascinating and satisfying. All the stimuli and experiences you allowed yourself to have in the meantime will instantly become part of the plant.
Use your embarrassing emotions as fuel. Do not be afraid to lever on your frustration, on your anger, on your isolation. These bottled up emotions show us the way towards what should be said. After all, if they bottle up, it is only because we do not feel entitled to express them. Express them, and express them loudly.
No matter how enthusiastically you are listening to me right now, remember that we are talking only because I see your value as well. You are not only absorbing energy here, you are giving out yours. And it is precious. Paris is busy enough for me to waste my energy on people I do not admire. You would have no one to talk to, were your ideas not valuable. Treat your energy accordingly.
© Lin Zhipeng
Just as you allow yourself half an hour a day for a workout, give yourself the daily time to just close your eves and imagine. Do not direct your thoughts, just let the imagination flow and take on the role of a filmmaker. Just draw a line for your vision to follow and let it develop freely. You might amaze yourself.
Never ask for favours, yet ask fearlessly for support to anyone who believes in you. We are only islands alone, and relying on the people around us is a skill – not a weakness. Build a network and do not be afraid to fall on the net when necessary. Ideas need a support system, and we need more great ideas to become reality.
The list could go on for hours, and at a point it will. Among the various gifts Paris has given me in these months, this collection of life advice could easily be the one I value the most. I hope it supports your daily practice and ideas as much as it supports mine. Make it yours, play with it, change it and enlarge it. We all need a manifesto.
Yours,
Federica Belli
