scrapbook: autobiography

image copyright Mao Zhi
In Truth and Beauty, Pachett attempted an autobiography of a relationship, but in her piece, the autobiography was of her relationship with Grealy, and not of Grealy’s relationship with her. Grealy was deceased, and unable to contribute her interpretation of her half of the relationship.

I am doing a collaborative piece with my boyfriend in drawing a visual representation of our relationship. In some ways, because these piece requires the input from both members involved in the relationship, and our mutual view of the relationship, would this be a truer portraiture of our relationship?



image copyright Karen Kim and Darren Chow
As with most of my collaborations, the conceptual and compositional stages are done together. The technical parts are divided by specialty. I have always loved my boyfriend’s style in shading, and drawing poses, so he did the drawing part of the piece. I was always critical, and while my boyfriend never works with color, I tend to use Adobe Photoshop 7 to color, so I tweaked the details, and finished up the piece in color via Photoshop.

I have always felt that the less one individual does on a project, the less it becomes their own, and the less artistic it becomes. I am a bit of a control freak, and I like for a piece, even if it is not as good in quality to be completely my own. However, in the case when you are revealing something about a relationship between two people, isn’t it truer if both people contribute their views? Or in fear of what the other will think, do both parties refrain from expressing themselves truly?

Then again, in every relationship, there is an amount of compromise, division of labor, collaboration, and in a good relationship, the proper chemistry to create something beautiful. The parts play yin and yang, and while they remain separated to a degree, they touch, and comprise a more beautiful and complete whole.

In theory, collaborations would be the ideal way to show a relationship. But some theories like Communism just don’t seem to pan out in real world situations.

I cannot help but to feel there is a slight lack of depth in a collaborative piece. This depth can only be found in a rare number of non-collaborative pieces created from a true artist in an inspired state of mind. To have two individuals both be at the state of mind during the proper time periods to create a beautiful collaboration is difficult to impossible.

I feel a truly successful collaborative piece would be if both sides were to show their interpretation of the relationship without showing the other. Then at the same moment, reveal to the other what they have created.

Unfortunately, in Grealy and Pachett’s case, Grealy is no longer alive to give her rendition of their relationship. We are left with a one sided view on the relationship.