Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Chuck Close & comfort zones

Stone Portrait by jafabrit


Chuck Close is one of my favourite artists for several reasons, the first being really liking his work, but he's also a "passionate promoter of artist rights and the arts generally". I also like his attitude (which I think must have served him well after he became paralyzed from the neck down): "I chose to do things I had no facility with. The choice not to do something is in a funny way more positive than the choice to do something. If you impose a limit to not do something you've done before, it will push you to where you've never gone before."
It's so easy to fall into a comfort zone.
AND
a fine example of how an artist can use photographs to create unique work(some argue against using photographs in
art)

And since I'm into Textile Arts
check out his tapestries





Talking about Comfort Zones
I was certainly out of my comfort zone on several levels performing in the v-monologues
(how cool is this, we raised $1430 for city of joy and Artemis)

photograph by Susan Gartner

I never thought I could actually stand in front of an audience, let alone deliver a monologue on such a sensitive issue. So many women are made to feel bad about their bodies in so many ways, sometimes it is subtle, sometimes not. Sometimes it is through advertizing products/services that promotes a perverted view of what is or isn't normal. Sometimes it is through acts of brutality, abuse, or misguided notions of what is or isn't normal.

7 Ways To Get Out Of Your Comfort Zone And Live A More Exciting Life.
I can't say if I live an exciting life, let alone a "more" exciting one, BUT it is a one richer for having gone out of my comfort zone.