Welcome to my newest creation!
I am proud and nervous to present the latest and largest addition to my Comforters series. This one reads ‘the Possibilities are Relentless,’ in a jangly, aggressive composition of pink and green checkerboard.
I’m proud because it came out even more accurately than I had hoped, but nervous because it is an extremely honest and uncomfortable illustration of my own internal experience. A while ago, I stumbled across a question that stopped me in my tracks;
“Does it often happen that nearly every thought immediately and automatically suggests an enormous number of ideas?”
This is exactly how I experience consciousness. It is both thrilling and totally exhausting. I am not trying to brag or divulge a serious diagnosis. Mortifyingly, among my enormous number of ideas, it had never occurred to me that this way of thinking could be articulated, or that not everyone experiences thought in this way.
But…the possibilities are relentless. This piece is about all the art I’ll never be able to make. It is about the unending scroll of content on my phone, watching countless people shove their creativity into the void and wondering how to keep up. It is about the breathtaking scope of human conflict, the bearing down of outrage and uncertainty every time I turn on the kitchen radio.
Which possibilities feel relentless to you?
The smaller text reads “I dreamt my hair was spaghetti.” I did dream that. Humor is also relentless, and art is embarrassing, and I needed to drive my point home with a serving of cathartic silliness. It also invites a viewer to lean closer, to parse the cursive and be rewarded with a goofy concrete noun. Spaghetti is an icon of infinite composition and entropy, after all, as no two plates are exactly the same.
Making and showing these Comforters, especially this one, has required huge vulnerability, much more than my more technical, conceptual sculptures.
The phrases I choose are distillations of my fears and desires, and making them is an intimate, tender act of self-care. Even though they are brightly colored and tinged with humor, showing them feels like exposing my soft underbelly to the whole world.
What gives me courage to share them is the recognition in people’s eyes when they see my work. I am not alone in being overwhelmed by choice, or henpecked by productivity culture, or let down by diet culture, or filled with feminist rage.
As of yet, I don’t have a place or time nailed down to exhibit this series. If you know of a gallery, museum, or publication that feels like a good fit for my deepest truths, please tell me by leaving a comment or emailing me at ruthshafer@gmail.com.
Now that this huge emotional ordeal is complete, I will be starting a holiday tittie commission for an extremely cool friend.
If you know someone who deserves a shockingly original piece of art for the holidays, I have a handful of commission slots open.
Or you can find plushies, paintings, and stickers in my online shop.
As always, the best way to support me for free is to share my work with others. Please forward this newsletter, follow me on instagram, or spend some time on my website.
In other news, Ian and I have been watching all the SAW movies I missed when I was in middle school. Happy Spooktober 🎃
If you need me, I’ll be dressed as imitation crab for Halloween.
Cheers,
Ruth
P.S. Thank you to Rae Heller for helping me hoist the quilt and take pictures!
Thank you for sharing Jodi! I had a similar laundry list as a kid... and it turns out art can encompass all, except of course, nothing can encompass it all. I agree that you have found an art form that covers a shocking range of skills and topics ¨̮
Hi Berta,
Thank you for the kind words! If you would like help finding a good place for your fabrics, I know people who are dedicated to redistributing fabric collections. Would you like help?
Again, thanks so much for reading and engaging with my art. I hope to meet you too!
Ruth