CHRISTY AU

"Work is usually a messy business.  I personally want to see traces, stains and dirt of my work, the layering of erased lines, errors and failures, the repeated re-tracing on a drawing, and the collage of corrections, additions and eliminations on the page that I am writing, for as long as I am developing an idea. These traces help me feel the continuity  and purposefulness of the work, to dwell in the work, and grasp the multiplicity, the plasticity as it were, of the task.  They also help me to maintain a mental state of uncertainty, hesitation and undecidedness needed in the process.  A sense of certainty, satisfaction and finality that arises too early can be catastrophic... Most importantly, the sense of uncertainty maintains and stimulates curiosity.  As long as uncertainty is not permitted to escalate into hopelessness and depression, it is a driving force and source of motivation in the creative process." 

 

- Juhani Pallasmaa
The Thinking Hand