As an artist it is sometimes easy to get distracted by our ability to paint, draw or create something from nothing. Once an artist starts to believe in themselves they start to notice interesting things about the people around them. Things that have always existed but may have not been noticed.
Being an artist is just like any other profession. It is a discipline that needs to be mastered if you want to make a go of it professionally. To be professional means you require people to take you seriously. For people to take you seriously as an artist one needs to focus on achieving quality. It is at this stage that an artist wakes up to themselves and ceases to doubt their own ability. It is this achievement that allows them to realize there is something greater, more important than just being talented and skillful.
Intertwined within all the rhetoric available to us is an invisible chord that links to a group of people who exist in society. These are the people we tend to pay attention to without knowing why. These are the types of people who strive to continually evolve as a person. These are the people who do not view their upbringing as a relevant contribution to what they believe they can achieve. These are the types of people who take on board everything everyone has to say around them but choose to research and think for themselves. These are the types of people who risk ridicule to live a life others are yet to believe is possible. They are the type of people who have faced themselves on more than one occasion and have accepted that both the good and bad aspects of themselves are not something to be too concerned about. They have at some point accepted that their view of themselves is something that can be improved based on the feedback from those around them. They are believers, dreamers, creatives and those who have accepted the system for what it is but believe there is still value to add. A system can always be improved with the help of these types of people.
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A society is made up of a bunch of individuals who are all different but seem to subscribe to things that appear to be similar to other members of the society they exist within. This of course is due to a desire to belong and be appreciated. Although one may subscribe to a group, said person has soo many things that are different to every other person within the chosen group meaning they are still unique even after proving they have similar views to said group.
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I personally believe it is a person's differences not their similarities that makes them beautiful in our society. I do not care if you believe in a religious mindset, cultural upbringing or ideology (that doesn't aim to wipe out everyone not like you), as long as you are willing to accept that there are others in society who hold their unique viewpoint within this same reality we are all sharing. I believe it was Alan Watts who stated "We are all trapped within this same globe together, isn't it a shame that after soo many generations of evolution we have not learnt to accept each others differences."
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As an artist the more I paint peoples portraits the more I think to myself "I am so glad everyone looks different in some way form or another. Sometimes it is the shape of the nose, other times it is the mouth, the eyes, the stress lines on the forehead, the differences are insignificant except for the point that they make us who we are and visually help us project our own identity. Like a tree growing from seed each branch has come to be as a result of the environment it grew up in. So our facial features have come about as a result of our upbringing and our emotional reaction to it.
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MY EXHIBITION AIMS TO FOCUS ON A CROSS SECTION OF INDIVIDUALS WITHIN SOUTH AUSTRALIA WHO HAVE THEIR OWN VISION AND PERSONAL STORY TO SHARE WITH YOU.
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I aim to achieve this by getting to know the person I am painting, Learning about their unique and beautiful view of the world we are all observing. Hearing their personal truth that they want to express, and using all of this information to create a visual representation for others to experience.
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