The way Asian calligraphy highlights mastery is from continuous practice and a spontaneous arrival at a captured moment. All mastery takes time and in Asian calligraphy the masterful work flows with no error. Opposite this approach is building an illusion of a moment through meticulous craftsmanship. In aerosol culture tagging and throw ups is somewhat counter to making a masterpiece. The philosophy is different. One takes time and the other is spontaneous.

Can they come together? Can you marry them in a work that is based on quick thinking, where the work stays fresh as opposed to laboured? The problem with melding these opposites is a lack of polish or finish. It can be a fresh take but lacks what is considered masterfully laboured. This is the problem I find myself in a lot. I want the philosophy of tags and throw ups in a masterpiece without relying on a formulated approach. If there is a formula it needs to find a voice in the logic in play.

It is never guaranteed that solutions will voice themselves or become apparent. You find yourself in vaguely familiar territory at times and it seems the work is part of a spiral. It could be something uncontrolled and without an answer yet every work seems to create an illusion of a possible answer. Even laboured work has the same problem. It might look more finished but it can die under its own weight. Even looking at some laboured work is tiring. It isn’t that the work itself is bad but it doesn’t have a desire to free itself. It is just more work and can lack a fresh outcome.

I think that the path I am on is one of failure but I enjoy the risk of quick decision making and that is the only special characteristic of the approach. It is not particularly attractive or sanctionable and in a way dabbling in these types of things is not a good idea. Drawing at the least gives me ammunition to find the target. I think I really miss tagging and throw ups but I am not in a position at this stage of my life to return to those practices. I am up to my eyeballs with commitments and responsibilities and the only way I get that urge out is to do the stuff that I do these days.