( originally posted May 21st, 2017 )
Creativity?.. what does it look like?...
It is less, of the question "what does it look like?", but more of recognizing where it isn't...
I often get asked questions about "art", "art education", the place where Graffiti fits in, etc... I usually make a stinky face, shrug my shoulders and talk about something else, because essentially, I don't really like talking about "Art". I like talking about Creativity, and how it manifests itself, through us, as people, through the universe, as nature, bringing light to dark, letting the unknown be revealed....
I know that this is a stickling point for some, I am one of those guys that believes that life is meant to be discovered, and not created... for some, that is heretical, words, coming from an "artist"... by the way, I use are quotations when I talk and write because I also feel that words get in the way, when I am trying to truly express my thoughts.
So what does this have to do with the picture above?... arguably nothing, and yet everything. In this picture, I am painting on a large canvas, about 8 feet high, and about 20 feet wide, give or take. It has layers upon layers of an acrylic wash, in blue, which is symbolic in and of itself. And I am listening to Jazz, "Kind of Blue", and "Blue Train",... I am only working with blue spraypaint, and I am painting at night. I take my time, no rush, deliberate motions, stepping away to reflect and allow feelings and gestures to bubble up. What I am working towards, is a magic that happens,... those spaces of "discovery", where you can break away from what is known and begin to have a conversation with the unknown. In the end, I hope that I have created something beautiful, I hope, and in the end I hope that I have something that I can share, that is also beautiful. Maybe it's the visual "Art", maybe it's these words... maybe it's the shared experience?
I often think that my artwork is a visual representation of a deeper spiritual principle,... and that is something that I discover, as oppose to create. One can "see" the creation, but you you must walk in the discovery... if that makes any sense.