ok. I think we've decided, as a small group not necessarily representative of the art community at large, that a work of art is finished when the artist says it's finished. And that's final. Unless, of course, that artist is me; never satisfied, and willing to risk destroying a perfectly good piece by meddling with the "finished" product. Trust your gut! I don't really understand the thought processes of my own mind. There are some pretty serious reasons for this, I am told, that I won't go into here. This is about art and artists and not my mental state. But, I digress. The work is done. Now, what do you call it? How do you come up with a title? Titles are extremely important to my way of thinking and working. They can often make or break a piece. Once again, I can only offer my own opinion until someone chimes in. I have two methods of titling a new piece. I can either start with a title before I actually begin work and move towards the idea. Or, I can wait, sometimes a long time, after the work is finished and try to find something that fits the idea that I am trying to convey. I'm not including dartboards and drawings from hats for the sake of those stymied by the loose system which is my way occasionally. I do collect titles. I have a notebook full. It's fun to me to see what I have accumulated sometimes and wonder just what the hell was I thinking. Titles can be descriptive (often boring). TItles can be cutesy (saccharine and trite). TItles can be mysterious and enigmatic (more my style). Titles can be an actual part of the piece as a whole (right on). Something that I often do is to use the title as an actual element in the understanding of the piece. I like to play with words and humor is important to me so I sometimes am simply trying to make someone laugh in order to make a connection with the piece. I want to backtrack a little and say that a descriptive title can be used for good. "Use the Force Luke!" If it tells a story and traces the path of the work, I can find it useful. But not all titles are helpful. I enjoy looking at a work before looking at the title often. Making a visual connection before being told what it is, or what it means, or where it's going is much more important I think than "selling" the piece with staid facts. Titling a work can be very difficult and I would like to stop here and let someone else try to explain their own thought processes behind the words which can hide a work or bring it into the light. What do you think guys?
rbs
rbs