By definition, the term ‘artist’ is described as “One who is able by virtue of imagination or talent or skill, to create works of aesthetic value”. With this, the painter agrees. As it turns out in the present day, the word ‘artist’ envelopes a broader spectrum. Yet there are others in fields of business and different occupations that willfully carry the term but seem to be only diluting it’s meaning.
Propaganda is not only used by government and organized groups. Here self-propagating is used to sooth ones own ego and make believe that one belongs to a more elite bracket of our society. This is one of many ways people cheat themselves and others to give fuzzy impressions and them self seem glossier.
I am a painter. There’s no way around it. To put it more acutely, the term once printed on the business card of an old friend and painter in his own right, the words ‘Visual Instigator’ across the front of it with a nicely executed soft bunny standing off to one side. The phrase fit the persona of my friend so accurately that on the few occasions that I still run into him, the words magically flash on his forehead like a rhythmic neon stamp. Artist or visual instigator? This painter prefers the latter.
I have been involved in the Phoenix creative underground since 1996, sharing energy, wall space at shows and studios with many a good cohort as an after work hobby. I never imagined or planned what I was doing would encompass a realm beyond that. Yet, here I sit years later to inform those that it might concern about my occupation and story, and I wonder about why they should find this important enough to explain in written form.
Speaking for myself, the process of completing a painting for me is more a trying one than it may be for others. Most people will tell you that the greater the difficulty and the higher level at which you challenge yourself, the more triumphant you remain in your mind once that goal is achieved.
I am attracted to anything off kilter. The more against the grain and the stranger the beauty, the more attention it receives. Needless to say, normalcy is a bore; and still is readily accepted as a way of life. Therein lays a catch 22. When will strange become normal? In my work, I try and stay within the aforementioned parameters. In the paintings themselves, an uncommon sense of solitude is usually dealt with, more so a certain kind of longing. A given situation most of us come to terms with at one point or another in our lives. An uncomfortable setting that is somehow inescapable is usually dealt with, but beyond these unforgivings lays hopeful themes of escape that the psyche copes and grapples with. In a sense, one learns through hardships that resolve comes at a price and in a way it is precious. These are the times and placements that I think exist in my paintings.
There is a very common question put to one who is trying to be creative in a given medium. “Why do you do this, and how do you do this?” The easiest way that I can answer is that they paint themselves. I am only the vehicle trying to share these mental studies, a visual instigator. I may or may not be an artist, yet I know that I am a painter.
