For many creatives, money is a difficult issue. Walk into any arts organization or art school and you’ll find artists who have been told that their art is supposed to be pure and untouched by commercialism. In fact, many arts graduates emerge after graduation railing against capitalism and its perceived evils (while clutching their newly-minted degree in one hand and… Read more →
One of the unknown facts about my path to becoming a working artist is that it all began with fiction. I’ve always been a reader and a storyteller, and I had always taken writing seriously in the way one does when one wants to write well, but I never entertained the notion that writing could become a central pursuit in… Read more →
Recently I visited the studio of an established bronze sculptor. After admiring his work and personal collection of art, I asked if he had any pro-tips for an emerging artist. He thought for a brief moment and chuckled. “You should become a plumber,” he told me with a grin. “People always need a plumber.” He chuckled again. Nobody cares about… Read more →
The following is an excerpt from an invitation-only exclusive art talk and exhibition preview event from December 6, 2018. I discuss, among other things, the inspiration behind my upcoming show on January 11, 2019, entitled ‘Virgin Land: Myths & Narratives‘. Tonight I’m here to talk to you about narrative, about how it affects the course of our lives and why… Read more →
Virgin Land: Myths & Narratives is an exploration of the mythological canon of the American West. The title reflects a mindset that helped fuel westward expansion, an image that depicted a vast territory teeming with unclaimed resources ripe for the taking — a veritable Eden-like wilderness ready to be conquered and brought to heel. It was the land itself that… Read more →
‘Astral Crown’ was the result of my hearing the American Indian story of Sky Elk, an elk who found respite from relentless pursuit by jumping into the heavens. The final painting is a commentary on mythology and an inquiry into modern perception on nature, tradition, and the sancrosanct, all of which are under intense pressure from our technological society and… Read more →
“Even when our memories are accurate…the meaning which we attribute to those experiences, in other words, the reason they are important to us, is highly influenced by the imaginary world we weave around them. In this sense, the word imaginary alludes to the extra bit we bring to our perception, the ‘seeing beyond’ referred to by Sartre… When we revisit… Read more →
“One deep reason why we tell stories to ourselves (or to our confessor or to our analyst or to our confidant) is precisely to ‘make sense’ of what we are encountering in the course of living — through narrative elaborations of the natural arguments of action.” — Jerome Bruner and Joan Lucariello, Monologue as Narrative of the World Randomness is… Read more →
“Narrative is present in myth, legend, fable, tale, novella, epic, history, tragedy, drama, comedy, mime, painting, … stained-glass windows, cinema, comics, news item, conversation. Moreover, under this almost infinite diversity of forms, narrative is present in every age, in every place, in every society; it begins with the very history of mankind and there nowhere is nor has been a… Read more →