Low and Slow
I wanted to share a bit about how being an artist is going financially but I’ve had a surprisingly busy week and just haven’t had the chance to crunch the numbers yet – sorry, might have to wait a few weeks!
Anyway…
Low and slow is one of my favourite ways to cook. I really, really get excited when a recipe includes things like ‘let it simmer for 3 hours’, ‘put in the oven for 5 hours’, ‘let it sit overnight’. I think I enjoy the combination of pre-planning and then completely hands off that this type of cooking needs.
The other good part of cooking like this is that people get really impressed with the results, which is great because it’s a very lovely effort:happiness ratio. I really enjoy cooking for people, and putting in an inordinate amount of thinking into it. It makes me feel really, really great when friends or family are visibly enjoying things I’ve made for them and there’s something very direct and rewarding about the experience of providing someone with sustenance.
A few years ago, I met up with a teacher who taught me when I was 14. He expressed some shock that I’d ended up a teacher and, fair enough, 14-year-old Matt would have been a shithouse teacher. But I think the thing that changed for me is I found out how much I enjoy helping people. Cooking’s a bit like that, for me. It’s good to just do something clearly useful for people in a very direct way. Everyone needs to eat, I like helping that.
I’ve also been thinking a bit about low and slow as it relates to my art career/aspirations/ideals. At the moment, I feel like I’m at the crest of a wave – I’ve made something I’m proud of, started releasing it, am getting good reception – in a way I feel on top of the world, but I’m also aware that it’s not going to be the same in 1 year or even a few months. That’s totally ok, but for me I’m balancing the desire to enjoy where things are currently while also keeping an eye on how to take some of this momentum and keep it going a bit. In short, I’m in a bit of a sophomore album situation. It helps (and doesn’t help) that I have people really loving the work saying ‘we should do more’ or ‘this will be huge’. It’ll be what it is, and that’s ok!
I’ve seen a few artists move too quickly when they are in a similar place. They turn out another book, album, body of work, etc, out maybe 12 months after they get some early attention. But the output is a bit half-baked and the outcome is that people start viewing them as a one hit wonder. On the other hand, some folks take a really long time to make the next thing and then it feels either like there’s a huge amount of anticipation (which is good) or people just tune out of what someone is doing (which is not terrible, kind of neutral). There’s no perfect time between ideas, that’s for sure.
So I’m thinking a lot at the moment about what do I want? Moving quickly, or moving slowly?
Art is weird, right, you sort of have to craft what you want and what journey you want to be on. Some of my artsy friends will probably recoil at the idea of an art career, eschewing thinking about that at all and just wanting to make stuff. That’s fine, but that’s not me. I’ve known for a LONG time that just sitting around making stuff is unsatisfying to me – I’m interested in outputs and outcomes, not just tinkering away. Knowing I’m ambitious in those ways means I have to think strategically, or I move nowhere and get drawn into everything.
And I’ve been coming back to low and slow as a bit of a guiding light. I think that the world is probably at a point where the amount I output is in equilibrium with how much Matt Dunne is needed. There can be over-saturation. I think a show or two here and there, some text and interviews here and there, that’s good. There’s no need for lots and lots and lots of me all over the place. It’s like driving a nail home with a hammer. First a tap, then a stronger strike, then a few more. But there’s a pause between each one, things are lined up again, that’s important. After all, I still run a publishing company so I’m out and about quite a bit.
What I know I’d like to do is keep building on collaborating with people. The Killing Sink involved a HUGE amount of collaboration with people, to work with eagles closely, to finding old traps and tools, to meeting someone who had found a dead eagle (flew into power lines) on her property and let me fabricate a forensic photo set in her yard. I want to keep working with interesting and acquiescing people so that I can develop a sense of scale, intimacy and specificness that I find compelling.
Working with people is inefficient – it IS low and slow. You can’t speed past connecting and getting on good terms with folks. It’s impossible, at least for me, to meet someone and have them instantly be ok with me waving a camera around non-stop. So there’s a lot of time that goes into it. Often the first time I meet someone and I’m making photos it’s more of a chance for us to suss each other out, rather than actually produce great results. Then the second and third time are where the magic happens. They can see what I’m doing and making, they know I’m not a jerk or a pain to be around, and it’s much smoother to get good photos. But it is low and slow.
Ok, this is getting a bit long in the tooth. I hope all is well in your world. I’m in the bush for the next two journal entries, I’ll write again mid-July.
Hopefully see you Friday 😊
Matt