Seth Bauserman | Artist Talk

Teach us to care and not to care

Teach us to sit still

– T.S. Eliot

I am careless. My attention is insufficient. Spread too thin over countless things that do not matter or drain me. I want to focus. To concentrate my care on things I choose. To give me attention to the things I love. Things that fill me. That put me back in touch with my self. I want to care less.

I watch my daughter understand this. You can tell how unburdened and free her mind is. I watch her approach her art with a clarity I envy. She doesn't care what I think of her drawings. She doesn't care what it's about. She just follows her attention and satisfies it. It is perfect in her eyes.

By borrowing the subject matter of my daughter's drawings I am exploring this space between us. Between innocence and experience. Self-belief and learned self-doubt. I want to better understand how she offers her attention to the world. What she deems important, and what she lets go of. I am hoping she can teach me when to care and not to care and when to sit still.

– Seth Bauserman

Seth Bauserman lives and works in Richmond, Virginia. Through a combination of painting, drawing, and printmaking techniques, his work contemplates the complex and layered nature of identity. He is a 2017 recipient of a Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Professional Fellowship.