Chapter 6: The Art of Maximizing Your Time

In this chapter Michael Kimmelman explores three different artists that faced the same dilemma: will their art survive them and continue to be… well art. Jay DeFeo worked on an art piece called the Rose over a long period of time. She devoted a large chunk of her life to it and sometimes ignored the rest of her life. She worked and reworked it until it became over three thousand pounds made of several layers. She didn’t want to sell or show it because she never felt it was done. Eventually she got kicked out of her home and had to store it. It ended up in the school she sometimes taught at and because it was so vulnerable there, they covered it up. Eva Hesse explored the ugly and abstract side of art. Hesse worked with against the norm at the time and exploited the abnormal in art at the moment. Jay Defeo and Eva Hesse worry about their art not surviving them. Charlotte Salomon made her art solely for herself. She created a story that showcased her life and emotions in the time of Nazi Germany. People did not know how much of an artist she was until she got into a school where the Jewish ratio to the rest of the school was a small percentage. Her acceptance was a strong indicator of good work because of everything that was against her. All three artists wanted to protect and create their art for themselves and the art itself.