Avant

This picture is from the drive between Fairbanks and Anchorage. It is, quite simply, LovelyWeather.

Avant Garde: Function: noun, Etymology: French, vanguard : an intelligentsia that develops new or experimental concepts especially in the arts. That term implies a lot and has a wide range of connotations. So, I began with the definition, according to Websters. The reason that I wrote it, is that I believe that is what I am interested in, or rather that may be the most apt term to describe where I want to go with my creative output, ie the sounds that I arrange. Upon reflection I came to appreciate that time and again I try to push beyond the recapitulation of previous ideas and that I am interested in taking it the next step. Now I would assume that this drive "forward" (for lack of a better term) is inherently what drives a person to be an artist and it may be true of all artists, maybe not, but I am not here to point fingers and create divisions. I am here to report that I habitually am interested in something new. This persistence to explore the world around and within me is what has lead me to study composition and more importantly to never grow to comfortable with routine. Lack of attachment would be what a therapist would say to me. I see it in a more positive light, the desire and drive to explore. That is the spark that ignites me and pushes me to peruse life.

The aesthetic of my work may and often reflects and interest in something already achieved and hence not avant garde. But what I have begun to realize is that I begin with an aesthetic model and after working in that space I become comfortable with the idea. Once inside, I can push at and develop the idea and possibly work against it. This is wonderful because I have no sentimental idea to the idea/concept so I am free to push. This is a sort of R&D phrase which I can then move beyond, in the process, reducing it to the elements that I deem necessary and throwing out the rest. Then, moving forward.