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Text excerpted from an interview with Michael by Laura Maxwell. Interview © 2006 Laura Maxwell. Dance Photo: In the studios of American Ballet Theatre (Susan Jaffe and Ethan Stiefel in background) © 2006 Rosalie O'Connor New York Photo: Gracie Mansion (Mayor Bloomberg greeting visitors in background) © 2006 Kimberlee Hewitt Theatre Photo: Drawing in the Kraine Theatre © 2006 Kimberlee Hewitt Other Drawings Photo: Doodling in a Coffee Shop © 2006 Kimberlee Hewitt |
Question: You use no pencils, nor make any rough drafts. There's a metaphor in there somewhere. Do you plan your drawings or have a preconceived structure before you begin?
Michael: OK--here's the metaphor as I see it. First, I don't really think of myself as an artist: like I said, I was trained as an actor. So drawing to me is like acting in general and specifically improv acting. I don't plan them; I just make a line and it suggests the next line and when I screw that up, I try and save it by making another line until I'm done and there's some art. Or not. It's about presence and being in the moment. I'm not worried about the drawing when I'm making the drawing. I have no idea what the drawing is. I'm only trying to figure out the next line. It's like being on stage without a script and having to make "something wonderful right away" as they used to say at Second City. And, as we all know, theatre is a metaphor for life and all the world's a stage . . . We have no clue what's coming up next; the best we can do is live in the moment and trust that if we're good and do our best, the next moment will take care of itself. I firmly believe this and live in constant fear that it is not true. I live at this neurotic intersection of confidence and fear, and becoming comfortable with that is the secret, if there is one. I am terrified. I am a fraud. I do not know what I am doing. I have no clue how this will turn out. And there is no way out of the situation except to keep drawing . . . |
© 2006-2008 MICHAEL ARTHUR
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