So why does it matter to me? Why should I reach out to people? How does outward relate to the inward?
I chuckle when scientists say that we're social animals, because there is a very strong anti-social aspect to my personality. Yet all my life, people have mattered to me. I grew up seeking approval from parents, teachers, role models and peers, using them as a general guides for approving or reproving myself. That would later change as I grew more alienated from society during college. But even in my infancy, there was always that part of me that wasn't of this earth, the daydreamer who couldn't be bother by others, even my loved ones. This is just one in my long list of paradoxes.
Lets be honest here, daydreamer I may be, but I've always been a show off. I've always strove to distinguish myself from peers. since childhood I've been competitive, a sore winner/loser, have always prized intellect alongside feats of strength and speed. In my earliest memories of test-taking, I used to finish my tests before the class just so I could flip the paper over and draw on it. Why? Not only was it fun but I hoped to impress the teachers into giving me a higher grade. I'm a showman but I was never the outright in-your-face kind of showy. I've always been more subtle. As a 30 year-old man this hasn't changed and understanding this aspect of my human self is the key to channeling it to my benefit.
To answer my previous question, why reach out to old/new friends on facebook and life in general? So that in my own subtle way, I am weaving the spell necessary for my work to germinate in the hearts and minds of all, starting with those closest to me. If I work for the benefit of humanity, would I not want as many of them on my side as possible? Besides covering the overhead cost, what is money compared to the power to bring fire to the hearts of men and women? Since I'm really being honest with myself, this is it. I want power. This begs the question: Does the Artist and the Magus share the same paradox, where in order to attain all power you must relinquish it, surrendering yourself to Love? I believe so.
I'm starting to fly again.
Anyway, to say that my artistic carrier is only fueled by an ambition for power would be way off. I often feel as though I have no choice over fate and creativity just "comes" to me, but I am aware of the power of art through the ages and know the potential role I can play in my age. I am slowly building the momentum that will make my artistic progress an unstoppable force. All the while remaining accessible to all, though probably understood by a few.
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Friday, December 3, 2010
Artist Statement
I've completed my current artist statement after laboring over making myself appear to be clear and concise, without flights into the abstract, where I lose people.
Here it goes.
I am a narrative figurative painter, my work is often mystically charged with symbolism that attempts to tap into the archetypes in humanity's collective unconscious. In doing so, my aim is to subtly evoke mass appeal in my work without compromising my individual artistic vision.
While this sounds as though there is one universal formula for aesthetic experience of my work, it's not so simple. This elusive aesthetic experience is highly subjective, based on individual life experience and cultural upbringing. Its the reason why something like listening to Mahler's 8th symphony may move one person to tears and another to be simply bored to tears. To make matters worse, the human mind likes to identify itself as the sole identity of the individual as reflected in the words “I think therefore I am” The mind is a metaphorical watch-dog by which it believes that all sensual experience should be measured and judged by. It triggers responses like “should I like this?” In a modern society where rationality is so prized, an emotional or intuitive response to art may be often road-blocked by reason, effectively trapping it's beauty within the confines of its high tower. This trend can become downright unhealthy if the mind also blocks the natural flow of the irrational unconscious upon our rational consciousness.
Suppose you were to cross this barrier of conscious thought, you'd be flooded by rich dream imagery filled with personal meaning to the individual's life experience. However, venture far enough in the underworld of the unconscious and you will eventually arrive at what Carl Jung termed collective unconscious, a dream-scape of inherited collective memories of our species. Its a place where ancient shamans and priests were expected to be initiated into, delve into madness, face our archetypes, then return to our world enlightened. Its where the average person unwittingly becomes trapped into in a state of psychosis, unequipped to swim back out of this terrifying place where our collective gods, angels and demons reside. It's common visual metaphors are documented in all cultures in the form of universal themes within the human mythos. This is the language that artists, poets and musicians must master – consciously or intuitively, in order for their work to transcend the abyss of meaninglessness and reach the eternal, communicating esoteric truths about the human spirit across generations of human evolution.
The question still remains, how does one transcend the barriers of rational discrimination? In ancient Greek myth, Hermes, on his descent to the underworld to rescue Persephone, was said to have had to distract the three-headed hound Cerberus with honey cakes in order to move on to deeper realms. The honey cake is a metaphor for the artist's display of technical mastery and virtuosity at his particular medium, the means to satisfy the intellectual demands of our ever evolving brains. Its as though the artist must play the role of a snake charmer in order to communicate the ineffable. Its my firm belief that the success of visual stimuli upon the viewer depends on how much the art penetrates the conscious mind and resonates with the unconscious hidden truths about the Self. This is the place where the the seemingly opposites in the realm of rational thought converge harmoniously, transcending reason altogether, the house of Beauty.
Here it goes.
I am a narrative figurative painter, my work is often mystically charged with symbolism that attempts to tap into the archetypes in humanity's collective unconscious. In doing so, my aim is to subtly evoke mass appeal in my work without compromising my individual artistic vision.
While this sounds as though there is one universal formula for aesthetic experience of my work, it's not so simple. This elusive aesthetic experience is highly subjective, based on individual life experience and cultural upbringing. Its the reason why something like listening to Mahler's 8th symphony may move one person to tears and another to be simply bored to tears. To make matters worse, the human mind likes to identify itself as the sole identity of the individual as reflected in the words “I think therefore I am” The mind is a metaphorical watch-dog by which it believes that all sensual experience should be measured and judged by. It triggers responses like “should I like this?” In a modern society where rationality is so prized, an emotional or intuitive response to art may be often road-blocked by reason, effectively trapping it's beauty within the confines of its high tower. This trend can become downright unhealthy if the mind also blocks the natural flow of the irrational unconscious upon our rational consciousness.
Suppose you were to cross this barrier of conscious thought, you'd be flooded by rich dream imagery filled with personal meaning to the individual's life experience. However, venture far enough in the underworld of the unconscious and you will eventually arrive at what Carl Jung termed collective unconscious, a dream-scape of inherited collective memories of our species. Its a place where ancient shamans and priests were expected to be initiated into, delve into madness, face our archetypes, then return to our world enlightened. Its where the average person unwittingly becomes trapped into in a state of psychosis, unequipped to swim back out of this terrifying place where our collective gods, angels and demons reside. It's common visual metaphors are documented in all cultures in the form of universal themes within the human mythos. This is the language that artists, poets and musicians must master – consciously or intuitively, in order for their work to transcend the abyss of meaninglessness and reach the eternal, communicating esoteric truths about the human spirit across generations of human evolution.
The question still remains, how does one transcend the barriers of rational discrimination? In ancient Greek myth, Hermes, on his descent to the underworld to rescue Persephone, was said to have had to distract the three-headed hound Cerberus with honey cakes in order to move on to deeper realms. The honey cake is a metaphor for the artist's display of technical mastery and virtuosity at his particular medium, the means to satisfy the intellectual demands of our ever evolving brains. Its as though the artist must play the role of a snake charmer in order to communicate the ineffable. Its my firm belief that the success of visual stimuli upon the viewer depends on how much the art penetrates the conscious mind and resonates with the unconscious hidden truths about the Self. This is the place where the the seemingly opposites in the realm of rational thought converge harmoniously, transcending reason altogether, the house of Beauty.
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