Sally Mann

When reading the "Dog Bones" interview with Sally Manns on the art 21 website I realized that she and I have several things in common in our artist processes. She said, "If I could be said to have any kind of aesthetic, it’s sort of a magpie aesthetic—I just go and I pick up whatever is around. If you think about it, the children were there, so I took pictures of my children. It’s not that I’m interested in children that much or photographing them—it’s just that they were there, and it’s the same with dog bones...". I'm not sure exactly what a magpie aesthetic is... in fact I wonder if she had the right bird if she created this term. (Magpies hide things then go back and get them later because they remember where they placed them. I'm not sure if they pick up whatever is lying around! but this is beside the point.) Her description of how she created "Dog Bones" is very much the way I sometimes create my art. I pull out everything I have and wait to be inspired or I walk into a store and wait to be inspired there. I very much relate to the idea of just picking up whatever is around that catches my interest. The spontaneousness of the art is alluring, not necessarily the thought process behind it. I find it funny that she openly admits that critics try to pile on layers of meaning to her art when really she is just displaying something that caught her eye and has no connection to the work other than that it interests her and pushed her to create something. I do try to shoot for meaning in my art, but I have to agree that sometimes it is just fun to be spontaneous and not have to make connections; to just let the subject be what it is and not add layers of meaning to it.


Image: Of her daughter, who was just wandering around and a convenient subject!