There is power in conviction. The force that drives Le Va does so with a delicate agility in concert with a gesture of intimacy. Le Va works through his drawings consumed by the action of bringing the drawing forward. Through the process of mark-making Le Va’s drawings form with a history surrounding their creation. In spite of his confident hand, there is tenderness to his explorations. His emotional voice is articulate and clear. Artists know this “something,” that sensation of the artwork creating you. Mark-making coalesces into forms that have a feeling of something or as the French term so much better describes, de quelque chose. Perhaps a more apt English translation would be to consider this idea of suchness. There are qualities in Thomas’s poem and Le Va’s drawings that when diagrammed on paper express intimate nods or bows toward certain varieties of sensation, that when realized in time transcribe an aural into a visual experience.
Perhaps Le Va dispenses with all the verbiage best by saying:
“I’m looking to surprise myself. That’s important to me. I know it’s out there; I just have to find it. I’m always looking for “something.” I don’t know when I am going to find it, but I’m sure I’m going to find it. I have to trust in this way of working.”1
- Le Va, Barry. “A Conversation: Saul Ostrow and Barry Le Va.” Barry Le Va: A Survey of Drawing 1966-2003 and Two New Sculptures. Zurich: Edition & Verlag Judin, 2003, 30. [↩]
Consistent with his description of Mr. Le Va’s works as having two sides—“[o]ne side we see, the other requires us to listen”—so it is with Mr. Mike’s essay: on the surface it offers insights into Mr. Le Va’s work specifically, while on another level it provides insights into the mind of an artist during the creative process.
Mr. Mike’s essay is personal and intimate. It bespeaks an intimate understanding of Mr. Le Va’s work as well as Mr. Le Va himself. Reading the essay, one gets the impression that Mr. Mike considers both Mr. Le Va and his works old friends with whom he has spent many hours conversing and exchanging ideas. Mr. Mike obviously hears the music that silently plays in Mr. Le Va’s works and has the unique ability to make his readers hear that music through his essay. His essay could easily function as an essential companion to Mr. Le Va’s work that would enrich the experience of viewing it for casual viewers as well as experts.
While revealing an intimate knowledge of Mr. Le Va and his works, Mr. Mike’s essay also offers a distinctive insight into the creative process. He seamlessly relates how Mr. Le Va’s works interweave elements of physics, geometry, poetry, and music; in the process of relating these diverse considerations to Mr. Le Va’s works, one can tell that Mr. Mike has grappled with each of them in composing his own works. His essay calls upon everyone—from casual observers to working artists—to look beyond the surface of an artwork and consider the diverse, sometimes contradictory elements that inspired and directed the artist in creating the work.
In the end, Mr. Mike’s essay is an important comment not only upon Mr. Le Va’s art but also upon understanding artists and the art they create. Like the art he describes, Mr. Mike’s essay has multiple layers requiring careful study and consideration from a broad range of perspectives. No matter how many times one reads Mr. Mike’s essay, it always offers something new to ponder.