The one thing i’ve struggled with in my art practice is finding my voice. What is it that I have to say? Do I have a message, agenda, platform? Do I need one? Is my message valuable to society? How can I use my gifts to make this world better? Like the question I have asked myself in the previous post, “who am I?”, there isn’t really a short answer I suppose. This is what I have discovered about myself and my art practice, and maybe some of you can relate to this in one way or another:
I am trying to connect people with their feelings. Art has this powerful way of doing that. I want you to look at my painting and have some feelings about it. Doesn’t really matter what that feeling is, I just want it to stir something up. You may hate everything I paint, and that’s ok, it’s a feeling! Our brain can process up to 36,000 visual messages per hour so for us to do this we need to make split second decisions about what we are viewing and analysing. The science behind what we find visually appealing has always been an interest of mine. There is this really neat word called entropy and I try to apply this to my art. It’s basically the way our brain creates order out of disorder or chaos. Too many visual disturbances and our brain gives up trying to figure out the mess but just the right amount of mess and bingo! You’ve made something interesting.
I want to make the world more beautiful. Art fills the space in my life where ugly once was. Emotionally, physically and mentally. If I can contribute to the beauty in every day life, then I feel like my work is doing what it was intended to do. Good design and art are some of my favourite things. I smile when I see something beautiful that another person created, so that inspires me to do the same and keep working towards art that I am proud of creating and connecting to the world.
Creating art is my way of healing. Healing myself, healing you. Have you ever stood in front of a work of art and felt like a part of you became renewed by the simple act of looking? I have. I distinctly remember seeing my first Mark Rothko painting at the age of 15 in an exhibition of his I saw in New York City. I had never felt this overwhelming wave of awakening and internal peace. It was a truly healing moment for me. I knew I needed to paint like that some day, or at least try. I realized then how healing art could be. Every time I paint or draw I feel like i’m silently repairing parts of myself that have felt broken or hurt. Art has had an incredible effect and affect on my own personal healing journey.
My impulse to create art is as strong as my impulse to breathe. It literally keeps me alive. Perhaps my motivation to create is even more selfish when I dig down deep. I create to stay alive and feel like I matter in this big round rock we call Earth. We all need something to keep us moving forward and my message to the world is hidden in layers of paint. My feelings, my desires, my sadness, my joy, my darkness, my light…it’s all there just waiting for you to see it and connect to what makes me relatable to you.