Dear Friends, I have a story to tell. No, not the Douglas Adams’ one, that’s already been told.
This is a new story, and it starts towards the end of the month of December last year, on one fateful day when I looked at all my “artworks” and asked myself what the hell is all this?
Most of my works are based on photographs of others. Is this art then, or am I just a biological photocopying machine? And in that moment, the truth dawned upon me that the latter might just be the case!
And so it was that I had to ask myself the ultimate question about life, universe and everything: what is ART?Â
Or more precisely, how does one create art and not a copies of things already created?
Because once you start thinking about it, You, me and every other “artist” is bound within the space-time continuum we call the universe, and the queer thing about the universe is that, well, it’s already been created.
There is no color I can create that does not already exist in nature. There is no shape, not even a single point I can make that would be entirely new and does not already exist.
Seen from this angle, an artist is doomed to be a “copier”, inevitably, irreversibly and eternally, for all the art we create is but merely a copy of what nature has already created hundreds of millions of times over and far more exquisitely!
So…. is that it? Is that the answer? An artist is a copier of nature or whatever contraptions man has invented himself and that sorts it out?Â
Those of you lucky enough to have been to an art school might be laughing at my ignorance and/or feeling pity for me, but you see, dear reader, as I never went to an art school and no one ever taught me the answer to such basic fundamental questions, all I have to rely upon is the web and logical reasoning.Â
I have been surfing the web up and down but have found not a single satisfactory answer.
Perhaps the problem lies in my ambition, for when I started creating art, I aspired to be a “creator” and not a “copier”! Was I wrong in my ambition?
This is the dilemma I had been stuck in for the past 3-4 weeks, throughout the mass hysteria of mankind called Xmas/New Year etc. and into the bright fresh snows of January!
During all this time, I did not touch a brush or a canvas, for I refuse to be a copier! Neither did I post anything here, my apologies, for I had nothing to say. I felt terrible having to write something just for the sake of appearances and what could I have said? “Hi Folks, Merry Christmas from your friendly neighbourhood biological photocopier!” Nah!
And so the days went by… and then suddenly… without any warning… nothing happened!
That was rather disappointing
Though right after that, two things happened!
One, I realized that to “create” something you don’t necessarily have to start from scratch. Imagine someone wanting to create a chair and starting from creating quarks and atoms and so on. No, one can create a chair from already created natural elements, for instance, wood.
Two, I realized I have a power, a super-power, that allows me to alter the universe as I please or even create never-before-seen combinations of objects, lights and shades. That, by all means, is creation and the power which allows me to do it is imagination!
So there you have it, simple as that.
The answer to the question of life, universe and everything, this time around, is not 42, but imagination.
I also realized, that I was wrong earlier.
True that I have been using photographs of others or just mental images of scenes I witnessed in nature, but when I start putting them on canvas, I inevitable enhance and modify them as per my imagination, small as that modification might be and thus the final result is not a direct copy of something but a representation of something as “I” see it and that in itself is surely a unique creation.
So finally, after weeks of misery, I picked up my brush and dusted my canvas again.
A new start with a fresh outlook and fresh motivation. Almost ready to post, perhaps tomorrow!
Hopefully the result would please you!
Thank You all my friends for not forgetting me during this time and a very Happy New Year to You all!
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