Writing Exercise

I've sent my entry off to another national exhibition call.  It had some interesting parameters, asking for art that was in some manner inspired by the written word.   As I find much writing inspiring, the premise wasn't much of a stretch.  One art form often inspires another.  Where would contemporary painting be without cinema, cinema without painting or the novel.  I owe my last reserves of energy to music for sure.   Anyways, the challenging (and ironic) part is that juror asked for a statement under 100 words.  That's tough, practically a Twitter confinement for a loquacious bloke.   Here's what I sent:

“…a thaw set in.  The air became plaint.  The beeches sweated.  The branches gave up their heavy burdens of snow. “

In his book “Dog Years,” Gunter Grass uses a snowfall its subsequent thaw to echo the metamorphosis the story’s central character.   In Grimm’s fairy tales, the woods and winter are familiar backdrops.   These stories have never been far from my mind as I’ve ventured out through snow and night and found inspiration for creating my own images.   In my current series of work, I’ve adapted this context explored by the German Romantics to the contemporary Maine landscape.  In this setting, I write my own fictions through images.   In them, the viewer reads the story of our protagonists, senses wide, straining against the night and the snow-covered stillness.

For those of you geeky enough to word-count me, I went way over.   With the little quote at the top, I hit 128.  I always aim at the spirit of the idea, so I figure that's close enough.   Regardless of whether the work gets accepted, it was useful exercise.  I can let a painting go, but artist statements never seem to be finished.  They evolve constantly as the artwork shifts context and is shown in a new time or different venue.