WHY : Exhibition Essay

Why?

“I probably wouldn’t want to live if I couldn’t do it.”
“I find tremendous fulfillment in doing it.”
“It makes me happy.”
“I do it for myself first, and then to connect with an audience”
“It’s all consuming, I sleep it, I drink it, it’s just total in making me the kind of person that I am.”
“The amount of joy it brings to anybody who encounters it.”
“It was the only way I could communicate, it was the only thing that made me go on.”
“It’s my first love, my first passion.”
“I try to make people see what I see.”
“It’s just something that I really enjoy doing.”
“I love to examine the world as it is, the world that’s overlooked.”
“It’s a conversation between me, the materials, and the people who get it.”
“I would do it no matter what.”
“I couldn’t do anything but what I do.”
“To explore things that I just don’t understand.”
“It allows me to think through my body.”
“It helps me communicate.”
“It keeps me very balanced, very happy.”
“I know I’m not happy if I can’t do it.”
“To engage with people and make them present for my audience.”
“To bring beauty into the world.”
“I’m searching for something.”
“It feels good.”
“It’s a way for me to express my ideas.”
“It’s a way to reach out to others.”
“To make something that can affect someone’s day.”
“To celebrate.”
“To engage the viewer and have that experience remain alive within them.”
“I do it as a release.”
“It helps me.”
“The same reason I take a fresh breath every day.”
“I need to create.”
“It makes me happy.”
“It chose me.”
“I have to do it to remain sane and human.”
“It’s freedom.”

Why.

As diverse as the works of those assembled for this exhibition are in materials, methods, and concepts, if we look deeper, threads of commonality emerge. We might express ourselves differently, but we’re by no means alone in this. It’s compulsion, it’s necessity, it’s for our health, it’s our way to communicate – it’s the same thing we’ve been searching for since humans could first ask such questions.

In better understanding why others do what they do, we of course, gain a greater appreciation for their particular work and its origins. More so, perhaps, it empowers us to look at ourselves through new eyes and discover the creative potential within all of us.

Nick Sousanis, Exhibition Director Work: Detroit
Detroit, Michigan, November 17, 2007