Noah Norrid, Beautiful Bizarre Artist Directory member provides some fascinating insights into his practice and experience as a surreal painter, as he responds to the questions below:
- What do you hope to leave behind in the world through your art?
- What do you think is the single most important piece of advice you have been given as an artist?
- Do you feel exhibiting your work is important to your practice?
- How does contemporary always “plugged in” culture influence your work?
What do you hope to leave behind in the world through your art?
To be entirely honest, I haven’t given that much thought to what I leave behind to the world. For me, I think about what I leave behind for my children, my family, and those who I hold dear. To that end, I hope that I leave a body of work that reflects my thoughts, attitudes, imagination and craftsmanship that I’ve brought to bare in my art. My children have always seen me work at my art- so I believe that they see my art as a natural extension of myself. I think that when I have passed on, my work in some form will remain as temporal touchstones that might resonate with them much as a stone might remember the waters that shaped and hewed its edges. As far as the world is concerned… well, that really none of my business.
What do you think is the single most important piece of advice you have been given as an artist?
The best advice that I have been given came more in the form of a revelation that came from reading David Bayles and Ted Orland’s seminal book Art and Fear where the authors reflect on a story of a piano student (David Bayles) who, after a few months practice with a Master instructor lamented, “But I can hear the music so much better in my head than I can get out with my fingers.” To which the master replied, “What makes you think that ever changes?”
Do you feel exhibiting your work is important to your practice?
Exhibitions are important in so far as the artist can be part of the dialogue and their work is an integral part of the show’s context. Now that I’ve had some experience of participating in both local and international exhibitions- my clear preference is for the local- i.e. the city and country where I live. On the one hand, there are the financial investments that international exhibitions represent for the artist balanced on the connections and dialogues that can be made with a potential new audience.
Audiences and collectors are attracted towards exceptional work- but they often gravitate towards the personal connections they might develop with the art through any exchanges they might have with the artist. This can be difficult when the artist is “new in town”. I think that this reflects the fact that people gravitate to art that both speaks to them AND represents a personal connection they develop with the art via the artist. This can be difficult to accomplish in the long run.
How does contemporary always “plugged in” culture influence your work?
The older I get the more social media really disgusts me. I try as best I can to avoid it as much as possible. This is not to say that I don’t use it or that I cannot see its relevance to my business. Rather, I find the “plugged in” mindset to be analogous to living in some productivity “Matrix” that dictates habits and trends. The world of the artist used to be fused with a kind of magic and wonder- it was private and intimate and an individual journey that had to be walked alone. The work itself was a kind of artifact of that journey. Going back the voyeuristic tendencies of our modern world- it seems like the “plugged-in” culture has made hog-fodder of these private and intimate journeys and tries to make content junkies of the artist.
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