Brush Hairs, Imperfection and the Art of Being Human

Michele Bledsoe’s paintings at a recent exhibit.

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Inside an art museum, when you look at the people around you, you can always tell who the artists are.

They are the ones trying to push their faces up against the artwork. Balancing gracefully over velvet ropes to lean in as close as possible to the art. They examine every inch of a painting.. every brushstroke. The tiniest detail cannot escape their inquisitive, hungry eyes..

At least until security tells them they need to take a few steps back.

Maybe it’s just me.

At the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., as I was leaning in to examine The Human Condition (La condition humaine) by surrealist painter, Rene Magritte… I noticed something astounding.

Near a corner of this amazing work of art, there was a brush hair stuck in the paint.

A brush hair stuck in the paint!

Sometimes, that happens to me, too.

Suddenly, I realized that even Rene Magritte was not above experiencing the same little moments of imperfection during the artistic process that I experience. He was not some unearthly creature performing feats of flawless skill and mastery over his materials…

He was simply another artist

passionate and imperfect

just like me.

Art has nothing to do with perfection..

Art is all about being human.

 

 Richard Bledsoe talks about art, Remodernism.. and the beauty and weirdness of life.