The Artist as Mother

The artist as mother in this instance is the biological and artistic parent of two offspring. The artist gestated her children as normal, which as we know is called first an embryo, and then a foetus, but unlike many mothers, she also made tangential works of art about it. Each successful gestation occurred as expected in the artist's uterus, from conception until the foetus was thankfully sufficiently developed to be born. Nothing unusual there. We were lucky. And I have always considered this person to be a conceptual artist anyway. She went into labour and gave birth twice. Not unusual. I saw both, though just in the nick of time in the case of the latter. (I have been to all her recent openings.) Once the children were born, the artist produced milk - in a process we know as lactation - to feed both children. But when they were born, she also produced art - in a process called magical realism - to feed the mind. Historically, mothers have always fulfilled the primary role in the raising of children, but since the late 20th century, the role of the father in child care has been given greater prominence, certainly in most Western countries, though perhaps less so in cultures to be found in the war zone. No, the artist is special for many reasons, but perhaps especially because she has managed to combine both a fulfillment of the primary role and a fulfillment of the creative one. Currently, with advances in reproducing technologies, the function of a figurative artist can be split between single pieces and mass production of, say, prints, digital images, films, etc. Artists get very excited about all this digital doo-dah. Currently, however, with advances in reproductive technologies, biological motherhood can be split between the genetic mother (who provides the ovum) and the gestational mother (who carries the pregnancy), and in theory neither might be the social mother (the one who brings up the child). This is perhaps the more remarkable. This can perhaps put art in its place. (GM art one day?) No, the mother plays an important role in a child's childhood, and the artist plays an important role in a culture's art. Combined, you are missing only one thing. The artist's husband. Whoever thought of that?

An edge to the boundary: one lucky hundred

The artist is out on the town, well, locally speaking, and the children are gathered by the bright red sofa like kids at a bus stop on a Saturday night. There is a kind of sugary rebelliousness in the air at home tonight. Sweets are being chewed, ostentatiously, in open mouths. Shopping catalogues are perused, water sucked from neo-athlete's bottles. The children stare into each other's eyes with a kind of imagined elderly statesmanship. I should be laying down the law, but this is a treat for them, and they deserve it, just as it is for the artist, who deserves it. Besides, I encourage this kind of thing. Treats reward. Everyone gives it a go. The artist spent most of the day working outside on her mural for the school, and there’s not much I don’t know about going out that requires me out tonight. Strangely, I don’t feel like it at all at the moment. My idea of a good night out these days is a good night in. If I have to go out, it's going to a lecture or a talk or a book launch or concert. A year ago I would have laughed at that sentence. Indeed, it would have seemed like a sentence. I would have thought I had too much work to do, or too much social networking disguised as work to do, I should say. At the moment I have a good book. (A fresh and thorough look at the seeds which germinated into the war-zone.) Have I really had my share of bars? I don't know. I certainly haven't had my share of friendship. Friendship is very important to me. You can never get enough of that. I saw a very good friend today - a father again: another boy - and I saw a very good friend yesterday. Not that I don’t have something to celebrate myself. This is my 100th daily blog in a row without succumbing to the usual trend of goofy pictures. I don’t have links. Every blog has links. If I did, I think today's would be this one. Watch it. It is kind of relevant. But it does require sound as well. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=nUDIoN-_Hxs? But I do still have a raison d’etre. And that is to see these blogs through to an exhibition for the artist, even if I am out of the country. She deserves it. The public deserve it. The art world deserves it. Just as acting is living truthfully under imaginary circumstances, art for the artist is truth made art. Talking of truth, the children are asleep on the sofa. The artist's finest work.