David Critchley (b. 1953, UK)
Pieces I Never Did, 1979

It’s quite interesting how some entries here start clustering around topics I did not even know were topics addressed by multiple artists. This one is in a nice company of Christine Kozlov’s 271 Blank Sheets of Paper Corresponding to 271 Days of Concepts Rejected (#152) and Peter Liversidge’s Proposals (#249), all of them addressing ideas that are not realised in various ways.

That gets me thinking. Not least in the context of conceptual art. When is a work actually done? For me ideation is often most enjoyable part of the process. To the point where idea that is clearly articulated in my head feels “finished”, exhausting my curiosity for any further realisation. Thus, when it comes to more materialised works, they are often products of “unfinished ideas”, ideas I kept being curious about, ideas where I had not arrived at any “answer” yet and that could only be thought further by doing.

But then I can also feel sorry for those brilliant “finished” ideas that have not been given any material articulation to make them shareable. Whether for their own sake, or when I find it relevant to refer to them as background to other works. Somehow they do exit anyway, they are not absent, just being silenced or obscured. I keep returning to them – hundreds of which are nevertheless scribbled down in my lists of art to be made or having been finished without materialisation – thinking that maybe I should assist them somehow. So yes, these examples of how others dealt with the problem is quite inspiring. Interestingly, Crtichley’s one I came across while also having found some energy and inspiration for possibly carrying out one of those quarantined ideas of mine. So yeah, he is pertinent as a catalyst in this process. (And yeah, there is something odd there, too, about his fairly … well … youthful … not to say juvenile … execution now residing in the canon of video art… I wonder, though, if art history is equally inclusive of gerontophilic rookie renditions…)