Artist’s Dialog: Part III
The Cohesion between personal and commercial art
Welcome back to our series The Artist’s Dialog in the third part of this new series. We are exploring the inner-dialog of our own artist Louis Alfieri through thoughtful discussion and questions.
Many artists recognize the ongoing balance between creating work for themselves, and others. In this installment, Louis discusses how he reconciles as both a commercial and personal artist, and discusses his intention not just toward his art, but also how it interacts within the world and in the presence of people.
Waiting / Scarecrows series – oil – 72” x 24”
AK: How do you reconcile being a commercial and private artist?
LA: I hear a lot of people throw shade at the experiential medium when they don’t really understand the art form.
They like film––which is a structured and controlled narrative inside of dark room with a message confined inside of a rectangle that reflects light––but are against an open world format where you cannot control the outcomes, multi-branching narratives where you cannot control the interaction with your guest / viewer, and dialogs that have unspecified outcomes.
Yes, there are times that I want control – and yet to really create, I have to let go and follow my instincts. This act of letting go is one of the things that I love about the act of working with fire in ceramics. While there are many choices made on the creative journey that are meant to direct a specific outcome, the dialog and dance with fire and the elements always leads to a moment of chaos theory, or surprise outcome. When I draw or paint it’s similar in that I often try to capture that energy in a single moment, single sitting, in pursuit of its truth in that moment.
I hear a lot of people throw shade at the experiential medium when they don’t really understand the art form.
They like film––which is a structured and controlled narrative inside of dark room with a message confined inside of a rectangle that reflects light––but are against an open world format where you cannot control the outcomes, multi-branching narratives where you cannot control the interaction with your guest / viewer, and dialogs that have unspecified outcomes.
Yes, there are times that I want control – and yet to really create, I have to let go and follow my instincts. This act of letting go is one of the things that I love about the act of working with fire in ceramics. While there are many choices made on the creative journey that are meant to direct a specific outcome, the dialog and dance with fire and the elements always leads to a moment of chaos theory, or surprise outcome. When I draw or paint it’s similar in that I often try to capture that energy in a single moment, single sitting, in pursuit of its truth in that moment.
Japanese inspired tea vessels– ceramic / raku
Journey to Atlantis– Sea World Orlando – Foam, FRP, Imron
It is inescapable that there is power in a medium that is so emotionally resonant, that people will travel thousands of miles to have an experience that they remember for the rest of their lives. How we use that medium in the future is what will determine its impact in generations, we are at its birth.
AK: Is it difficult to balance projects that range on such separate ends of the spectrum?
LA: I often joke that my creative vision ranges from tea-cups to time travel, but in reality that is exactly how I think and see the creative opportunities before us. We are bits of cosmic energy assembled for a very short period of time into this organizational pattern. We are born, grow, die, and deconstruct, to arrive again into a new vessel. What lessons are we to learn? What is our legacy to future humans?
Why is your work any better than mine? I have never ascribed to this way of thinking, it is narrow, divisive, and anything but inspirational or thought provoking. I can certainly see questions of craftsmanship being debated, but content is subjective.
We are all working to create expression and resonance within the human soul. The distinction I draw between my personal work and my commercial work is one of whose vision I am, or we are, we are articulating.
In my personal work, it is my inner cosmology and mind-set that I am expressing. It is an articulation of thoughts, observations, inspirations, explorations, and emotions filtered through the range of experiences I have had in this life, and perhaps a reflection of where my energy was before or potentially will be after this period.
I invite the guest / audience to hold a dialog with me. When we are holding that dialog, viewer and artist, it is an exchange of ideas, rather than an act of intentional co-creation. They arrive with their own experiences and see my work through the filter of their life. In my personal work, I tend to be more intent on self-expression of a specific idea, time, place, or emotion, which is left open to the observer / participant interpreting it in their own way.
Doombot – Dr Doom’s Fearfall – IOA – Foam, FRP, Imron, SFX
Fall of the House of Usher series – pencil / gold leaf– 36” x 24”
In my commercial work I am creating a platform for dialog and experience, an act of co-creation. Experiential commercial work tends to take on less of an auteur mind set and one where I, and often a group of other collaborators, are creating a vision, narrative, and environment for the guest / observer / audience to play a part in. Other factors such as ergonomics, spatial capacity, regional accessibility, operations, consumables, and revenue support become a part of the creative parameters. If a brand is involved then you are also working to interpret a new kind of platform and expression of that brand. It is part you, part of that story. No different than if a film director creates a new variation on an existing story, or they reinterpret an existing narrative, reflection of life, or live theatrical expression of a famous story or play. These situations are a convergence of the existing framework meeting that of the new artist / voice, etc.
In The Artist's Dialog Part IV
In the next part of our series The Artist’s Dialog, Louis discusses how his art influences one another, including his work within a cohesive ecosystem of co-creation between the artist, art, and viewer.