Hindsight trumps mindsets

Hindsight is 20/20. Being in a particular frame of mind always determines our actions and that’s what I realise now (obviously)…Not going to say it’s too little too late cos it never really is. When you realise something, you take action because you are in the right frame of mind to do so. I don’t advocate sitting on one’s hands, waiting for a brainwave before one does anything…just don’t beat yourself up cos you didn’t act sooner. 

Take me and these gallery visits…I never used to go out of my way to visit any gallery if it wasn’t happenstance or a requirement of an art course. I just thought why should I when I can google images? I wasn’t ready… I remember walking past the Salvador Dali museum and telling myself I will visit but I never did. You can take a horse to water but can’t force it to drink. I can now relate to don’t knock it till you try it. Changing one’s mindset is one little step at a time.   Virtual images never compare to physically seeing artwork in a gallery. It is never the same ambience. But I still wouldn’t have listened if anyone had told me so when I was in art school. I cannot count the number of times I had received a suggestion to visit one gallery or the other…and when I did drag myself to one after being badgered, it was lost on me. The art was just pictures on a wall. I loved working in isolation and was definitely not interested in viewing any artwork that wasn’t mine. I could not see how art created in the 18th, 19th, 20th century had anything to do with my artwork. Art history was just something you had to learn to make the grade.

Letting go of misconceptions requires keeping an open mind and going out of one’s way to try something new…because that is the only way to change one’s mindset. Too right change is the only constant….and the only way to not stagnate. History has proven that time and again!!