The essence, the minimum.

[Eduardo Cardoso]

Sometimes it is painful to work on minimal art. I'm still looking for something in my works and I can't find it.

I've been studying my best works and still can't figure out what is it that makes them what they are.

The essence. I just can't see it.

Or maybe I'm being very demanding with my self.

Did you ever felt like this while doing your works?

[Jan Hodgman]

Maybe it is that which cannot be found which is the essence. Maybe that is what makes it a "best work." Maybe it was made with no-mind.

[Eduardo Cardoso]

Maybe you are right. Most of my works are made with no special method. I simply do them. No much thought involved. I just feel the urge to create something and do it. Most of my works come out in less than 2 minutes. They just come to me naturally.

Maybe I'm overthinking about the essence. Probably this feeling that something more should be in my works is paranoia. Maybe they're just fine the way they are...

P.S.: I got mail from you today. Beautiful walk #7. Thank you very much.

[Jan Hodgman]

Yes yes yes they are fine as they are! Some felt sense in me contracts with the thought of you finding what the essence is in your favorite works. It warns against coming up with a "formula" or a sense of "rightness"  at the expense of losing the freshness of each piece. 

Glad the walk made it all the way to Portugal.

[Ruud Janssen]

When I make drawing I start the first lines as impulses. That makes the essence. The rest is hard work to make the connections vissible for others too. But that start always makes the total impression come to life.

[chris wells]

I have changed my philosophy of making art in the last year and a half. Somewhere I had come across this quote from a photographer that the key to being a "good" photographer was to take "lots of shots." Sometimes I make a work that resonates with a lot of people--but to me it was just a throwaway work. Other times, I work for days and days on something and it completely falls flat for me and others. Also, maybe the work is never completed, even if it is minimal--maybe it is simply "abandoned" as Valéry said. And I am growing to accept failure as part of the artistic process. If we could control the beauty of the art we make, then it wouldn't be the mysterious thing that it is and that makes it really moving. I guess this is my long way of saying I am starting not to worry about it--I just take "lots of shots." :)

This is just how I've been thinking about things--maybe you'll find some value in it as well.

[Eduardo Cardoso]

Interesting point of view. Thank you. :)

[PAOLA GAIDOLFI]

It happens to me too. I sometimes look at my works and I find myself thinking "why did I do it so?". May be when I made it, I had a reason that I don't remember.