Art is birthed from grappling with something powerful, something which surpasses categorization.  Something akin to being tumbled at the bottom of a waterfall... Something that pierces with its purity of beauty or pain.  When I create artwork, it comes from this sort of experience.   It may or may not be "good" and honestly, I don't really care. All I know is that it is something I need to exclaim before it can consume me in its inky depth or brilliant fire.   And so I take its amorphous, illegible shape and form it into an expression, depicting and releasing it with the tools of language or brush. For we simply cannot not live in states of purity.   But we long for them.   And we emerge from them.

 

      Many say it, but few actually live it: Life is a moment.   Several moments?  Yes.   But only a moment.  At any instance, it is only one.  Our lives are just moments.  And it can (will) stop in one, crazy moment.   We can't run or hide from this fact.   We can't trivialize our lives and we can't aggrandize them.   We can attempt to, though, if we want.   And it's okay if we do.   Because these moments are choices.   It's your choice what you do while alive, including how you view your life, what you do.   Moment after moment.   Choice after choice.   A series of them, strung together.  Every time your brain computes - it takes a couple sights and smells and noises and strings them together and you come up with a perception, an opinion - you've made a choice.  Every time you recognize something.  Every time someone speaks to you.  Every time you begin to move. 

 

      Of course, at first, you don't choose.  At first, you aren't even aware of the moment.   On autopilot, you react based upon genes and experiences and mostly fears and biases and moons and tides and everything else in existence that is programmed and pressing into you.  

 

      But occasionally, you experience self-awareness.  And each time you do, that's when you choose.

 

      How you will be.   In each conversation.  In each gesture.  You can choose how you will be in each and every moment.  You can choose whether you're going to see or smell or sense anything at all.   

 

     And when you start to isolate moments, and recognize them, and take responsibility for them... for your perceptions, for your thoughts... for your facial expression, for your posture, for your breathing, for your eye contact, for whether you're listening or already making your decision... for everything you do and everything you don't...

 

      How might your life change?   Who might you be?

 

      You can be the person you've forgotten how to be but who you're still searching for.   Someone who enjoys playing, thinking, and gazing.   Someone who isn't afraid to ask questions.  Someone who finds true humor & joy in life.   Someone comfortable in their skin.  Someone who knows what it means to let it all unfold.  

 

     In my art, I hope to inspire you to create something truly beautiful... Art?  Sure, if that's your thing.  But to make something even more amazing:   Yourself.   To do this every day.  Every moment.  

 

For Life is exploration.  It is a playground. 

 

It's a fantastic work of art, and so are you.

 

Thank you for being.