Michael Potts / MYQ – Circle Foundation for the Arts

What themes does your work involve?

My work the last few years has focused on rebirth, renewal, and new beginnings using water and bright light sources to express these themes.

Describe your creative process.

Most of my work is discovered in that I rarely plan it out ahead of time. There have been a few successful pieces that I conceived and created, but most are in the moment and found in the making.

What influences your work? What inspires you? Why do you make art?

I love high contrast black and white with water and bright light that is either peaceful or contains an element or flavor of the abstract. However I think being able to work with people I like is the best part of it and I want to create with those people because then the image means more to me, and if I love it there's a greater chance the viewer will feel that.

What is good art? What makes a piece of art great?

There's the rub. There are different ways to answer that. You could say any piece that gets made is good because someone took the time and energy to create it. We could say that art needs that je ne sais quoi element that elevates it to meaning. Maybe it just needs to connect to someone, and I suppose we could say that the more people it connects to the "better" it is, but mass also breeds mediocrity. Ultimately it should speak to the human condition and a truth about our being and existence.

What is the role of the artist today?

I think art should first be for art's sake, but if an artist is able to see outside of the box of daily life and question "why are we doing what we're doing?" then the role is to provoke the question and perhaps offer a possible solution.