17 Oct Artist as a Reflection of the World
Artists are often stereotyped as sensitive, compassionate, creative types. They are also often tagged with the possibility of madness. (We love you Vincent, but you certainly left us with some big time labels.) Thankfully over time we have come to appreciate Van Gogh’s very personal crisis as his own, and not necessarily a reflection of the entire artist community. We do, however, continue to view the artist as an explorer of history. Paintings are frequently a window to the time. I believe this last year has been one of extreme political upheaval, and concern for any thoughtful person, any thoughtful artist. I am one such artist.
Abstract painters have this wonderful freedom to express what they want from the very core of who they are. Picasso has been credited with a wonderful quote “it has taken me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child”. Abstract painters are at their best when they paint from their gut. Yes, there is importance to composition, balance, and line. However, it is the story of a painting that holds us, and gives it weight, and magic. Abstract painting let’s us tell a story. It can carry it deep within ourselves if we allow it.
Once my website was up, and running this year. I knew the blog was next. It has taken well into this year to understand fully what this year has meant to me. Often I would find myself in front of a blank canvas ready to paint trying to shake off feelings of anger, and disappointment at our political world. I would start with the weight of these feelings, and after some time what would emerge on the canvas was a mix of reality, and hope. Hope for me is a direction, a purpose, a destination filled with optimism for something better. I understand now that my paintings are a reconciliation of these two conflicting emotions. What I have presented thus far for paintings in 2017 is the story of reality, and hope. A reality of confusing, and bombastic rhetoric coming from our leaders, and my personal truth that we cannot live without direction, without hope.