Work is underway for a major installation of 100 "schooling" fish in the conference room skylight of the newly renovated Buzzards Bay Center. I am honored to be asked once again to create a custom sculpture for this institution. Watch for details in the next newsletter.

body image | body essence

Permanent Installation Complete at Philadelphia's Fox Chase Cancer Center

As I announced in the last newsletter, my ovarian cancer awareness exhibit, body image | body essence, was offered a permanent home in the new Women's Cancer Center at Fox Chase Cancer Center's Young Pavilion in Philadelphia. The work was created in 1999-2000 to document in art the experience of my late wife, Mary, and others living with the disease. After a 9-year tour of 17 cities, I offered the exhibit, in its entirety, to the Center, and they honored me with gracious acceptance. Their new Women's Cancer Center was completed in May, and I installed the art in time for their opening celebration. Some photos from that event are included below. To see the full exhibit, and my commentary on each piece, visit www.bodyimage-bodyessence.com

I again thank Fox Chase President and CEO, Dr. Michael Seiden, and his staff, for so warmly welcoming my work into their space, where it can continue its work of education, validation and cartharsis for many years.

Above left: Rep. Allyson Schwartz, D-Pa, John Magnan, and Fox Chase President and CEO Dr. Michael V. Seiden next to the exhibit signature piece, Sharps! Above right: Annie Jonas and John Magnan, surrounded by the Fox Chase Institutional Advancement Team and, on the left, Mary's brother Bill Wellman and his wife Maureen.

Rant of the Month

We often hear people, when looking at art, asking what it means. That makes me wince. Art doesn't always have to mean something, nor does it always require any explanation at all. In fact, I've come to distrust artist statements, even my own, to the point that I find some explanations of art to be misleading, and downright detrimental to the viewer's experience.

For me, once the making of art starts, I'm not at all sure that even I fully understand the driving forces at play. Sure, I might have an inspirational beginning idea that carries through the work, but the final piece so often carries much more than expected. Amibuguities creep in as myriad factors impinge on the process. New ideas surface. Initial ideas get revised. Mistakes are made. Materials don't behave as expected. Emotional and psychological forces push and shove. All these things, alone or in combination shape and reshape the original thoughts. The end is seldom a direct expression of a single idea, and no one, not even me, can reconstruct how things ended up as they did, much less give a single answer to the question, "What does it mean?"

There are cases when an idea comes forth and seems to be realized exactly in the art, but those instances occur rarely, if at all. Most of the time the final product carries more content than originally intended.

When discussing my own work, I never reply to a question as closed as, "What does it mean?" What I will state is, best I can remember, where the work began, the original idea. After that, all bets are off, and any statement I make about meaning is little more than self-psychoanalysis. When all is said and done, I usually feel that I know as little of what the piece means as the next person.

What is appropriate, and most honest, is to let the art take us where we need to go on our own. In the end it's the viewers' experiences, knowledge and frames of mind that affect their response, not the intent of the artist. I am not implying that the artist say nothing at all. In some cases statements are needed to establish context, which is sometimes crucial. I use them when I think the viewer has to have some insight. Knowing background and intent can help us as viewers, if we're inclined to analyze. But it's still only analysis, not a firm answer about meaning.

There's a big difference between knowing what a work of art is about and what it means. The former helps us with context, but leaves open our personal reaction. The latter corners us, closes off the range of our personal interpretations, and cheats us out of a full artistic experience.

After all, meaning is in the eye of the beholder. Don't ask me to explain what my art means. I just don't know. Really. I mean that.

Custom corporate and private commissions accepted:

jmagnan@johnmagnan.com • 22 Centre Street • New Bedford, MA 02740 • 508-999-5051