Notes for talk 6:30 pm Friday. Oct. 21, 2022, with Visual Artists of Topeka at Arts Connect, NOTO Arts District
Every artist has likely experienced some time in their life a heightened sense of awareness, a transcendental, meditative state, inspired by a place where they are at their creative best. For me it is a state of being connected to my subject, feeling a sense of the sublime. I'm furiously trying to capture this feeling, this message, this composition that is saying paint me, paint me, paint me.
In some ways the experience of creating art is superior to the outcome. Yet what remains is something startling to the eyes, a reminder of this magnificent state of transcendence. How do we sustain this artistic feeling? Sometimes you find it in a place. You go to this place, you feel this place, you draw and paint this place and suddenly your brain reflects this place and you see it in your dreams.
For three years I was working on my art in my studio, and dreaming of going to Paris. Why Paris? Because it is the art and literary capital of the world, there is a painting around every corner. I'm in love with its art and architecture, parks, food and culture, its people and their language.
A year ago at this time I was there living in a hotel on the rue de Seine, making this dream a reality. I experienced Paris with my own eyes as an artist, it was a delight and a challenge and sometimes uncomfortable and even painful doing something I’ve never done before, meeting people I had never met, and experiencing conversations with other artists and writers.
The outcome was actually pretty good. I feel very grateful that I painted a dozen paintings of Paris, most of them while I was there, and then produced a book about it three months later. I was in the Paris zone. I came back a better painter. This talk will focus on my 21 day experience in Paris and briefly in Puerto Rico and then back to Paris again over the summer with my wife.
No comments:
Post a Comment