Below is an excerpt of a post from artist Andy Tirado’s blog ruminating on the process of naming a piece.
Come see Andy Tirado’s show “Open” at the FAC. Runs through September 28th, 2014.
The Art of the Title (2/9/13)
“Well, I did it. I titled my first finished sculpture, completed late in 2012. It wasn’t any easier than naming a child, and what added to the difficulty was the fact that, unlike a child, one needn’t name their artwork…
The title could be flat-footed, dry, and to-the-point – descriptive of the work but not adding anything more, such as titling a painting of a sunset in the desert “Desert Sunset”. It could point the viewer to a meaning in the work that would otherwise remain hidden. It could be a line of poetry…
As so often happens with the work itself, the title manifested when I was mentally engaged yet not imposing my own will and desire on it. Unlike the other possibilities, the title was not “for the viewer” per se, but in a kind of tautological way, like the work itself, was for itself, if that makes any sense. Like my daughter Sophie, whose name becomes her and who simply is her name, the title of the first serious piece I have made in a good long while references itself in a physical, concrete, and obvious way, yet also speaks to its place and purpose in time. It is a signpost – a cairn – a reminder for me of what it means to me. More than that – what it is.”
(Direct link: http://andrewtirado.blogspot.com/2013/02/raison-detre.html )