Composing Kandinsky at the Cary Visual Arts Ball

Many people who have seen my artwork, have seen this piece... "Composing Kandinsky".  

This painting means a lot to me.  It inspires me.  There is inspiration all around, and yet I display this painting because I am constantly inspired by it.  

I remember what influenced it's creation... and that's what I see when I look at it... it's me.  I don't mean literally, but everything that went into creating this painting helped to make me the artist I am.  

I painted it in college.  My life as a dual degree student was just that... a dual.  The only time my mind relaxed was when I went salsa dancing.  I didn't need to know the spanish language; I learned it by doing it.  Art and painting became the same when my professor and artist, Eric Lawing told me to stop trying and "just play with the paint".  This advice is invaluable.    

I'll never forget my art history teacher from the class that introduced me to Wassily Kandinsky telling us how she buys famous artwork instead of living room furniture and when her kids ask why they don't have a couch like their friends she says "it's because you have ART!"  

Wassily Kandinsky was the first Abstract Expressionist.  I learned about the subconscious mind, how turning off your brain and opening your senses allows you to live and create in a whole new way.  It's a spiritual experience.  Faith has always been a part of my life, and to grow in faith by trusting yourself... your subconscious... is freeing.  

According to Kandinsky:  

       

Lend your ears to music, open your eyes to painting, and... stop thinking!

Everything starts from a dot.

Each color lives by its mysterious life.

A painter, who finds no satisfaction in mere representation, however artistic, in his longing to express his inner life, cannot but envy the ease with which music, the most non-material of the arts today, achieves this end. He naturally seeks to apply the methods of music to his own art.

To create a work of art is to create the world.

I took what he said and watched a movie from his lifetime, well... I listened to a movie from his time, picking up on the similarities to my own lifetime.

Artwork is not just something pretty, not merely trying to create something out of nothing, or trying to recreate something that's already been created.  It's not just a tool used for advertising, but a connection to someone.  It's expression.  It's taking something inside of you and letting it teach you something. 

There is something remarkable about the ability to inspire yourself. I have been leaning on this painting as inspiration, and recently realized that I needed to let it go so that I can look within myself again for inspiration... 

So, to whomever raised the money for the Arts by bidding the highest price for this painting at the Cary Visual Arts Ball, I believe that you value artwork like my art history teacher, that you are inspired by this piece like I am, and that you will continue supporting and encouraging the Arts... Thank You.       

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