The Medium is the Message

This is a collage that I did in my Art Journal in 2004. It was not intended to be any kind of political statement at the time. I just used pictures from magazines that I found interesting; colors, symbols and drawings that I felt made a good combination. Now when I look at it, I can see how it could be interpreted in a political way, and that is not usually my style. Some old interviews with artists that I have read have made me smile, because the interviewer or art critic wants to read a heavy meaning into the artwork, but that was not necessarily the intention of the artist. (Georgia O'Keeffe was pretty indignant about the sexual meanings attributed to her flower paintings.) I suspect that quite a few artists just went along with the interpretations so as to seem to have more depth...

"Don't everlastingly read messages into paintings," commanded John Marin, a contemporary of Georgia O'Keeffe's, "--- there's the daisy --- you don't rave over or read messages into it---you just look at that bully little flower---isn't that enough!"