Judith Hoffman: Statement



Artist's Statement 2006 It’s very hard to write an artist’s statement. What can I say? I love the materials and the processes? I do, but there’s much more. I could say that I started making art as a kid, drawing in books and getting in trouble in school for doodling everyone’s initials into a little picture. That’s amusing, but not what drives my art today. If it weren’t for the pull of the content in my work, I wouldn’t be making art now. As I get older, I realize more and more that for me the power of making things isn’t about ideas, materials or processes. It’s about the emotional content. It’s life and death. I’m not saying I would die if I didn’t make art, but something inside me surely would. Art is my spiritual life. With art, I can imagine where we come from before we’re born, and where we go when we die.
Artist's Statement, 1998 The Birth of the Universe A fish swims in the night sky. She has a human face and breasts. The universe is born from her mouth, flowing like water, filling all of space. The universe is salty and dark. In the dark are tiny plankton and crabs, stars and planets with moons. The fish swallows the moons and the stars for nourishment, then gives birth to more moons and more stars. People are born as constellations in the flow from her mouth. They have stars in their hair and on their skin. They are part fish and live in the sea. Dreams form around them in dark clouds. They dream of slowly turning in the starry sky with the earth spinning below. They dream of living on the moon, with tiny sea creatures floating in the sky. They dream of the time when the fish will swallow them. They dream of the still night.
Artist's Statement 1990 Did I dream last night of a game children play where they win when their shadows are gone? I have an image of standing near a tree trunk, raising my arms into the air, and seeing my shadow change into the shadow of a tree. But then it got to be evening, the stars came out, and we all won. My shadow My shadow is the reverse of my life form, a sea-sky dark shape I could be absorbed back into when I die. Judith Hoffman ©1990-2006

Artist's Statement 2006

It’s very hard to write an artist’s statement. What can I say? I love the materials and the processes? I do, but there’s much more. I could say that I started making art as a kid, drawing in books and getting in trouble in school for doodling everyone’s initials into a little picture. That’s amusing, but not what drives my art today. If it weren’t for the pull of the content in my work, I wouldn’t be making art now. As I get older, I realize more and more that for me the power of making things isn’t about ideas, materials or processes. It’s about the emotional content. It’s life and death. I’m not saying I would die if I didn’t make art, but something inside me surely would. Art is my spiritual life. With art, I can imagine where we come from before we’re born, and where we go when we die.

Artist's Statement, 1998

The Birth of the Universe
A fish swims in the night sky.
She has a human face and breasts.
The universe is born from her mouth,
flowing like water, filling all of space.
The universe is salty and dark.
In the dark are tiny plankton and crabs,
stars and planets with moons.
The fish swallows the moons and the stars for nourishment,
then gives birth to more moons and more stars.
People are born as constellations in the flow from her mouth.
They have stars in their hair and on their skin.
They are part fish and live in the sea.
Dreams form around them in dark clouds.
They dream of slowly turning in the starry sky
with the earth spinning below.
They dream of living on the moon,
with tiny sea creatures floating in the sky.
They dream of the time when the fish will swallow them.
They dream of the still night.

Artist's Statement 1990

Did I dream last night of a game children play where they win when their shadows are gone? I have an image of standing near a tree trunk, raising my arms into the air, and seeing my shadow change into the shadow of a tree. But then it got to be evening, the stars came out, and we all won.

My shadow
My shadow is the reverse of my life form,
a sea-sky dark shape
I could be absorbed back into
when I die.

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