22) „Beware of similarities.“

I want to tell a little story. During the cold weather period I can continue my wood work in a near glass shop. The shop-holders wife passes there several times a day and wonders what the result of my carving would be. She does not really accept my refuses: “ I see a little bear, yes this is something like a 🐻! “ Of course do I watch how forms become organically without my intention.But until the last minute I want to give the wood a chance to  „express itself „. We all know and appreciate the high quality of traditional japanese, chinese, african art; we are impressed by the early egyptian , stone age, migration time or the art of the european ‚ dark Middle Ages ‚. But those artists were craftsmen in ritual duties, they didn’t know the free individual esthetic choice we have today. Quality was to match tradition, general expectations and the taste of the costumer. Today we create our own quality standards as part of our artistic production. So if my neighbor asks for similarities does she follow a natural impulse to define the unknown and  give it a place in an unsteady, nostalgic world. And it’s not easy to explain why similarity is only a secondary quality – if at all. Now you see why I beware of similarities. I want to be authentic and follow my own quality standards.

Wir sind so konditioniert, dass wir unsere Welt erkennen und den Dingen Namen geben. Natürlich gilt das auch für künstlerische Gegenstände, bloß ist das nicht immer erwünscht. In meinem Fall stören gegenständliche Assoziationen, weil im Zentrum meiner Holzarbeiten der Dialog mit dem Material steht.