Why I started
A passion for innovation and strategic realignment to bring together once disparate elements, reveal missed opportunities and overcome obstacles to optimal performance has defined my career. Inspired by comprehensive analysis and the retooling of financial, business, government and digital models, Art was always present, but its potential power was unrealised.
Coming from a mathematical modelling and financial engineering academic background, I was seeing art through my own lens: a soft-power tool, an asset class valued based on speculative financial terms and not human terms, in an unregulated manipulated market. My interest in art and the creative tension arising from the current valuation of art demanded more. So I decided to push limits, take risks and challenge conventions. I decided to start creating.
Continue research and reflection prompted me to try and redefine how art is valued and experienced by answering 3 key questions:
• What is the real value and impact of art?
• How might we engage collectors in value creation?
• How might we value art based on the impact it creates?
And I thought I had some answers…
- Why Experiential Valueism
- Why Master of Arts
- L2: Why I thought I had a Why
- L3: Why I asked Why
- L1: Why a new Why
- Study Statement
- Why Not?
WHY Experiential Valueism?
I’ve created a concept that I’ve named Experiential Valueism, defining my art as experiences meant to engage collectors in creating value in human terms.
How exactly? I wasn’t quite sure, but I started to explore, and I’ve defined a process for my work.
First, to establish value for my artworks based on the value of the underlying assets and not fanciful interpretation, I curated collections of appraised assets to infuse in each painting physically or symbolically.
Second, I would research to understand if my topic of interest was perceived as a problem in the public’s view and if they believed that the assets I’ve curated could be turned into a non-state actor or be leveraged creatively by one to tackle that problem.
With my research findings, I calculated several Lambda values direct proportional with the number of assets I embedded in my artwork, Lambda becoming a symbolic way of infusion. I calculated Lambda to assess the correlation between a respondent’s belief in my topic of interest and the existence of a problem and their belief in a non-state actor to solve it. I then used the Lambda values to represent the assets in my artworks by plotting them in a system of coordinates.
Last I would reflect, create, reflect again, and hopefully offer my collectors revelatory empowerment to create renewable value. Experiences that would trigger them to take action leveraging the appraised underlying assets to solve the problem I’ve taken an interest in, creatively while retaining my artwork as a reminder of their experience.
Sounds like Mumblejumble?
Research
I research and curate assets, humanity challenges, calculate λs to understand correlations, so I can empathise with the problem.
Reflection
Guided by personal values I express my perspective through art reflecting on the topics I've researched, to trigger action.
Revelation
The aha moment my audiences will have, feeling empowered to leverage the infused assets to create value for humanity.
Why Master of Arts?
As I was creating work and reflecting upon my concept, I felt I needed to expand my views, reflect deeper, and evolve my ideas and artwork. Through an academic framework, I was expecting challenges that would help me improve my work to grow personally and professionally.
L2: Why I thought I had a Why
The MA started, and now more than ever, my work felt legit. I had a process and a well-defined and effective system. I was exploring new methods, learning new techniques, using new mediums, taking risks, experimenting, keeping the creative momentum going, developing ideas and building work.
L3: Why I Asked Why
At the beginning of a new year, multiple factors forced me to ask Why and engage in active reflection to express my thoughts to others in a cohesive way.
The more I’ve read, the more I’ve reflected on what I’m doing and why the more challenging it was to see my vision and understand my thoughts. Going through an interview process, taking another step in my career, family, clients, students, a social exploration to see how people engage with my art demanded even more reflection. And of course, THE TUTORIALS! Thank you, Jonathan, for gifting me sleepless nights by asking all the right questions!
Three key questions guided me while asking myself: Why am I doing this?
• What happens if I remove all assets? How can I represent the same concept differently?
• What do I value?
• What values do I hold, and how do they connect with the audience or the broader sense of value?
L1: Why a new Why
To find my path and re-set creative boundaries, having a why expressed through a clear vision was now more critical than ever for my art journey.
It wasn’t easy, and it was messy; it was late in the night when sleep-deprived, I kept trying to explore Why. It is not perfect; it will evolve, it will challenge me to question even more if I’ve got a why this time or I’m just trying to make up a Why to find comfort because finding the right Why is too hard. Time will tell. But for now, I’m approaching time with a new vision, a new Why.
Vision: Why?
To evolve consciousness through value inquisitive experiences
Mission: How?
To augment art making with community engagement and a sense of the sacred, exploring tensions arising from appraising value as the interplay of financial and human assets.
Objectives: What?
• Explore ways of embedding creative community engagement in artworks.
• Explore the tensions and synergies between measuring value in financial and human terms.
• Reflect on the place of the sacred in making and viewing art.
• Create engaging experiences through physical and digital art, sculptures, and installations.
• Create a framework for measuring the value of engaging with art.
Why not?
Do not hesitate to give me the most critical feedback ever. It will only challenge me to improve my answer to one key question: Why?