Why Make Art?
(An Artist’s Statement by Joshua Blue)
1. When forced to confront the human experience, the most effective way for me to cope is to relate. To relate, I must first express.
2. When I express, it should be an attempt at honesty.
a. Truth is the product of honesty.
b. Honesty is universal. Therefore, what makes me human holds more significance than that which makes me an individual.
c. It is possible to create something so honest, or to portray something so honestly, that any person from any place can relate to it.
3. Finding honesty is a process—and the process is the point.
a. I am not attempting to create illusions.
b. Knowledge of my process breaks illusion.
c. My process is just as important as my work.
4. My actions make my identity.
a. Artists make art.
b. I make art.
c. I am an artist (see 4a-4b)
5. Making art is freeing, and I want to feel free.
6. Sometimes people who make art get famous.
7. The only absolute truth is that I am going to die—and I must do something until then.
a. I’m afraid to die and I feel that if I make enough things that other people find interesting, I will never really die.