When is Art finished?

The ultimate question for every designer, composer, choreographer, writer, poet……the creative process is never done.

A book or play can be rewritten and edited and rewritten again. Dance moves can change on a beat. A poem might be put down and come back to later with a different inspiration. A painting can be painted over.

Artist, like all the rest of us or maybe more so, change what they like. Artist can change media, materials, or even methods of expression. A painter may start with watercolors and move to oils or silkscreen. A writer may start with poetry and move to novels or screen writing. A dancer may start with classical and move into free form. A musician can learn popular rock and roll only to become interested in the roots of blues or classical. A musician may turn to weaving or a weaver may turn to stain glass. It is all a process of growth and experimentation.

So the question is “When is Art finished?”

When does the artist put the pencil down or the writer leave the keyboard? In some media there is a limit to space or materials and when they run out, the art is finished.

Deadlines can finish artwork due to the time has run out. Whether for a show or a commissioned piece, there is a deadline. A publisher has deadlines to guarantee printing and distribution. Concerts have deadlines of when the performance starts and ends.

Yet any artist continues to create. The former ideas and thoughts may lapse into new expressions or may be a rework of previous expressions. Composers will write variations on a theme. Painters will make several paintings of a subject, even changing media and materials. Writers will continue with a theme to make a series of novels with similar characters.

So “When is Art finished?”

It is never finished.

A song is covered and redone and covered again and each has their quality and originality. An idea from a poem can be transformed into a book or a movie with a different point of view. A color or a statement can inspire another’s thoughts to a new presentation.

So borrow my idea and increase the thought and give a variation on a theme to create something new. Creativity is a fluid process and must continue to flow.