This brand new piece is part of a group show — Inspiration Point — at DragonFire Gallery during Cannon Beach, Oregon’s 28th Annual Stormy Weather Arts Festival — November 6-8, 2015
Inspiration Point invites gallery artists to share a glimpse into what inspires them in their art.
Life is ever changing and so are we all. What can move us today is not the same as 5 years ago... or even 6 months ago. [Art can be] impacted by world events, by music, or perhaps travel, significant personal experiences... etc...
"Blue" | 40 x 40 in. | oil & mixed media
Blue
I think of many of my abstract compositions as musical — influenced and inspired by “abstract” music: Björk, Radiohead, R.E.M., Muse, Depeche Mode; and the symphonic work of Philip Glass, Hans Zimmer and other modern composers. The beauty of these types of music, for me, is the lyrical and sonic experimentation — at times discordant, minimalist, energetic, harmonic and nonsensical — which convey all manner of emotions, images, and narratives. Some of my favorite songs have somewhat unintelligible lyrics, but can evoke feelings and imagery simply in the manner they are sung or the mood of the accompaniment.
Music has been an inspiration for my art for as long as I can remember, and like many of us, the music of our formative teen and 20-something years is often what is most firmly planted in our psyche. R.E.M. is the most influential artist in my life’s soundtrack.
R.E.M.’s Blue was the final track on their final album in 2011. It was the perfect curtain-closer to their 30+ year career — the album was a culmination of their many varied sounds and themes. Blue is characterized by a lush, melancholy guitar sound underlying what is really more of a spoken-word poem which contains lyrics of longing, mourning and introspection followed by more uplifting words of optimism and transcendence:
I am made by my times
I am a creation of now
Shaken with the cracks and crevices
I'm not giving up easy
I will not fold
I don't have much
But what I have is gold
From my first listen, this song has resonated with me powerfully. In this painting I feel a similar juxtaposition with gritty, textured layers of muddy and melancholy against luminescence, clarity and hope. In the painting, like the song, the title Blue is literal and figurative. A large swath of brilliant cobalt blue is focal amid many other shades of blue, but other neutral colors in the palette dominate the surface. And in the lyric:
Look, the sky, the sea, the ocean, the sun, the moon.
Blue, blue, blue, blue, blue, blue, blue blue, blue, blue, blue, blue.
Naked and blue.
While I can share my inspiration point for my abstraction, I often insist that I’m not a writer, I’m not a poet, I’m not a musician or philosopher — I’m a visual artist. I prefer to believe my “story” has been told on the canvas. My hope is that viewers will have a unique, internal and personal experience, enjoying a moment of their own creativity to see or feel whatever flows through the art to them.
This is my time and I am thrilled to be alive.
Living. Blessed. I understand.
Twentieth century:
Collapse into now
Blue by R.E.M.
Yellow circus left the stakes a broken ropes world's useless mug
The ties that bind, ha ha
I can be bad poet
Street poet
Shit poet
Kind poet too
Subway
Almost 4AM
Halloween night
Had enough to drink to make my own party
All my fellow writers in half costume, half asleep
Half silly, gone to seed
I don't mark my time with dates, holidays, faded wisdom, locked karma holders
Convenient
I am made by my times
I am a creation of now
Shaken with the cracks and crevices
I'm not giving up easy
I will not fold
I don't have much
But what I have is gold
I saw your face...
I sing in platinum
I dress in brass
I eat in zinc
Let it pass
Compare a toast
I like that
I understand courage
I still roll with the shout of a character I was married to today
I try to see outside myself
I understand the eyes
Excuse all the highs
Sorry
I am sorry
Ha ha
I like you, love you, every coast of you.
I've seen your eddies and tides and hurricanes and cyclones.
Low ebb tide and high, full moon.
Up close and distant.
I read you.
Look, the sky, the sea, the ocean, the sun, the moon.
Blue, blue, blue, blue, blue, blue, blue blue, blue, blue, blue, blue.
Naked and blue.
Breathing with you. Touch. Change. Shift. Allow air. Window open. Drift. Drift away. Into now.
I want Whitman proud. Patti Lee proud. My brothers proud. My sisters proud. I want me. I want it all. I want sensational. Irresistible.
This is my time and I am thrilled to be alive.
Living. Blessed. I understand.
Twentieth century:
Collapse Into Now
Cinderella boy
You've lost your shoe
Cinderella boy
Your coach awaits
A sun makes shadows
All over your face
As you sit
Naked and blue
Into me
Discover
Discover
Discover
Discover
Discover
Discover
Discover
R.E.M. | "Blue" (alternate version directed by James Franco)