About the Talk:
"How do you stage an international art show with work from 100 different artists? If you're Shea Hembrey, you invent all of the artists and artwork yourself -- from large-scale outdoor installations to tiny paintings drawn with a single-haired brush. Watch this funny, mind-bending talk to see the explosion of creativity and diversity of skills a single artist is capable of." -TED.com
One of my favorite quotes from the talk is Shea's explanation of his criteria for the art he wished to feature in his show:
"Among all of the criteria I had, there's kind of two main things. One of them I call my Mema's test, and what that is, is I imagine explaining a work of art to my grandmother in five minutes. If I can't explain it in five minutes, then it's too obtuse or esoteric and it hasn't been refined enough yet. It needs to be worked on until it can speak fluently.
My second set of rules---I hate to say "rules" because it's art--- but my criteria would be the three H's: Head, Heart and Hand. Great art would have Head, [meaning] it would have interesting intellectual ideas and concepts. It would have Heart in that it would have passion and soul, and it would have Hand in that it would be greatly crafted."
By stretching himself and creating different artists with unique backgrounds, interests and styles, Shea was able to put together 100 pieces of art that were at once accessible to a broad audience while reflecting different sides of himself as an artist. In fact, the artists he invented were very much artistic creations in themselves.
I think Shea's criteria could be applied to all creative pieces, events and projects that we would like to share. It is a way to focus the art on the audience while balancing the importance of the artist's technique, passion and concept.
What do you think?
-Danielle Loebs
