CHAS BLACKFORD

As the world became upended in the spring of 2020 only those services deemed essential were allowed to continue - yet we all strived to hang on to some sort of normalcy. Is art non-essential? Was 2020 really cancelled? Yes and no.

 

Immediate exhibition cancellations, for sure, and future prospects fewer and much farther between. Forced to reassess and reevaluate, I, like many artists, found it an opportunity to focus more intently on my work and channel whatever frustration and forced isolation I felt into my output.

 

Did it work? Was my art better, was I more prolific, did the circumstance that we all shared inform and shape my art? Again, yes and no. Interaction and feedback are essential aspects of the creative process - so in many ways this solitary focus was limiting development of my art. But at the same time many outside distractions that are a part of daily life were off the table allowing for more sustained explorations.

 

I’ll let you the reader decide - below is some of my output from April of 2020 to June of 2021: