Creative Practices for Visual Artists

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Chapter 5

Productive Interaction and Conflict

I find a good way of describing what I try to capture in my artwork is “resting in conflict.” I’m always looking for subjects and ideas in the work that have some cognitive dissonance. They are the ones that open up into new spaces and ways of thinking. I try to find that thing that we consider static, and destabilize it.

(Chicago-based artist Nate Young, interviewed August 3, 2017)¹

We tend to think of our imaginations as being very powerful tools, capable of conjuring new artworks and ideas into being. As a result, developing artists often follow a pattern of attempting to execute preconceived artworks in the studio. The reality is, however, that our imaginations are actually very limited. ...