The Rightness of the Wrongness of a flawed Painting

We artists seek to never be wrong in our work, to never create bad art, to never make a mistake in our creative worlds. This is wrong of course as we are human and human experience involves being wrong. It’s as natural as taking a breath of air. And as such we need to accept it, and find ways of utilising the wrongness of our work. We cannot eradicate wrongness in a futile attempt to be perfect.

Imagine a world of perfection and correctness. How imperfect a world that would be! It’s called Peyton Place. And we know how that ended.

The world is interesting because of the mistakes we make. Not the human atrocity kinds of mistakes that ‘mankind’ makes, or the individual perpetrators of horrendous crimes, but a natural human mistake in terms of personal exploration, journey and creative venture.

When I create a painting and it is wrong, it is in fact imbued with a value beyond its apparent wrongness. Because in the wrongness lies my entire future laid bare. I only need to look.

There is always a rightness embedded in wrongness.

But do we slash and burn our wrongness? Do we seek to hide it, to leave a polished pristine vision of our perfect creative worlds?

A painting which doesn’t quite work is in many ways of more value than a painting which works sublimely. From the wrongness comes growth, new directions and insights.

Does a painting seek to be perfect and make that sale, stroke that ego, or enrichen our journeys and lives?

From a perfect painting comes repetition of that which is already been achieved: perfection. But this doesn’t lead to exploration or growth.

So should we always seek wrongness, and never strain or sufferer for rightness? That would be counter intuitive. The point is that a painting which appears to be flawed, still carries a richness which can never, and should never,
Be ignored.

I embrace wrongness. I don’t necessarily need to share it with the world. Only take its lessons and move forward.