I am still thinking about my show at Artexpo. One of the reoccurring comments at the show, that was the particularly surprising, was how many people would take a quick look at my Foundlings and see a clock. When you have a circular form with something hanging down from it, you get an iconic clock form: a clock face and pendulum. I was aware of this.
In a way, the comment is inspiring to me. The comment means that it is easy for the viewer to "see" what they want to see in my work. That there is a lot of "room" to enter my work. This is a good thing. How else can you inspire people unless they have room to be inspired? Still, with art as it is with most things in life, what you "get" from something is largely what you "bring" to it.
The other comment was how often people felt my work was "Asian" looking. Again I assume that the comment was a compliment. Just as the Japanese art of flower arrangement, called ikebana, pushes the art to elegant heights using very formal design and balance, I can only hope that the comment meant that they felt the same way about my work. My pieces do range from the minimal to the complex but in each case, formal design uses the contrast between balance and composition.