Art. What is it? I know, how many more people are going to try and answer their question. Well, count me as another individual throwin his own interpretation of it in the mix. Take it, or leave it.

Really though, what is it? We all have a lens that comes with its own unique specifications, forged and polished through the journey from our conception through to the steps and sways our life’s experiences have danced with us. Our culture, upbringing, biological makeup, learned or innate disposition, or whatever other influences one might choose to include, have all added up to construct the frame and filters we view and interpret our surroundings through. It’s been spoken to death, the idea that you ask ten people what they see in a flower, for example, and you’ll get ten different answers. It’s fuckin true though, and it’s fascinating.

What brought me to bring this topic up today, was an interesting encounter on social media sparked from my last piece of work (the image you see above these words). There was a reaction that I quite honestly hadn’t even considered to manifest. Yet there it was. The interesting thing is that while my initial reaction to seeing it was laughter, it had come to my realisation that I had actually forgotten once having a similar point of view. The reaction from social media that I had seen was mention of this piece as being NSFW (not safe for work), amongst other things, or an overall sense of distaste. Mind you, there was also positive response as well, but of course, the negative kept me thinking.

I say that I “remember” having a similar point of view for one main reason. I definitely did, in my youth. This was a time where my perspective was calibrated mainly by my peers and the social environment of my culture in that time. Whether this was high school, or otherwise. During this period in my growth, I was almost limited to the ideals and expectations of those I surrounded myself with. I’ve always prided myself on being the type to “do their own thing”, but I can’t deny that in an attempt to navigate the naive landscape of peer pressure and social awkwardness, I complied. I was then lucky enough to have chosen to go to a college that none of my high school classmates had chosen to go to, and that allowed me the opportunity to purposefully shed myself of those silly constraints, and dive into whatever would come my way without preconceived views or expectations. My tastes changed, and they have continued to every year after that, all the way up until now, and I’ll be damned if I don’t continue to ensure that they do.

So that’s great, but how does this lead into the “meaning” of art? Well, I suppose to summarise my intent here, art is what YOU want it to be. And what YOU “want” it to be is entirely dependant on your experiences, affinities, and whatever else I had previously mentioned. It changes. It evolves. And no one, not a single one of us knows what in the fuck we’re talking about. At least, when attempting to speak for anyone other than yourself. There’s nothin wrong with not knowing what we’re talking about either. How are we supposed to? We’re alive for maybe 80 years at a time IF we’re lucky. We’re exposed to a quantum-pixel of maybe one frame of an aspect of the universe we have the inevitably fleeting priveledge to experience. We’re not even babies. We’re moments. A drop of rain in an endless ocean of time and space.

Art is individual.

Every now and again I get a question regarding what inspires me, or where I get my ideas from. I wish I had a good answer, but I don’t. Half of the time I’m trying to come up with the next “great” concept, and fail miserably. The interesting thing about it all, is when I don’t bother trying too hard anymore. In that last ditch moment something will come to me and I’ll ride it for dear life. This next bit might seem like an extreme detour, but bear with me, it’ll make sense, I promise.

I suck at bowling.

Like, bad. But I’m competitive, so at first, I really give a shit. I’ll come up with strategies, adjust them accordingly, but for some reason, the more I care, the worse I do. Usually, this happens with a group of friends, and other random people around us who definitely seem to know what they’re doing. Super fun. I stand there eating shit, and it’s painfully inescapable. Suddenly, I’ll shift from “TODAY IS THE DAY”, to “…eh….fuck it…”. Pick up the ball, skip the mental measuring, the adjusting of angles on approach, or any amount of will to make the goddamn ball hit any of the pins. Swing..release... STRIKE!

This exact thing seems to repeat itself mercilessly in many other aspects of my life. It continues to seem that the less I try, the better I do. Being that this occurs so frequently, I’ve had many opportunities to attempt at quantifying this experience. It’s still a mystery, but I gather that in the attempt in achieving “perfection”, I consume myself with the false premise and expectation that this single effort will be the one that outshines all of the rest. Even now while writing this, I have to shake the reflex to micromanage my phraseology, or conceptual pathways in order to allow the heart of this post to present itself.

Stop overthinking. Stop overthinking. For the love of god, stop overthinking.

I’m saying this for myself, just as much as I am for you. Ideas, in my mind, are free flowing. In some way, it’s almost as if they exist already within us, and once in a blue, we tune to the right frequency to catch a clear signal of it to jot down before it fades away. If we’re lucky. Sure, there are ways to almost guarantee a good idea. there are basic principles, processes, tricks, hacks you can try in order to have better odds at that next great piece. They all have their place, but more important than anything, is that you keep trying. Try. Fail. Try again. Fail again. Try better. Fail better.

Where do your ideas come from?

Minimalism, what is it? I’m no expert, but to me, it’s the absolute reduction of all unnecessary elements. In other words, it’s the use of only what is required to convey a message, nothing else. I use the idea “to convey a message” because it’s precisely what we do as artists through our work. It’s a form of expression, of communication. But I digress.

As I mentioned, I’m no expert. I haven’t studied or explored it for very long. I do however find myself attracted to aesthetics that coincide with the ethos of minimalism. My kicks seem to come from subtleties almost invisible to the average eye. Those extra little drops of effort that can be happily discovered when carefully studying a piece. Delicate play with identical hue or value that only differ in texture. A dark figure hiding within a field of shadow, betrayed by the faintest glance of light outlining its figure. My water bottle in matte black with semi-glossed black writing. The rough then smooth white rubber underneath the soft not-so-flexible white leather, with white stitching and laces, finished with the white interior fabric of my favorite pair of shoes.

Let me tell you, it’s not easy. Sure, to some gifted individuals, a lot of this might be second nature. But for the rest of us, it’s a struggle. You really wouldn’t think so at first. I remember a more naive version of myself walking by a painting and seeing others almost transfixed in an attempt to unlock some taste of an understanding of what they were gazing. I didn’t fuckin get it. It’s a red square on a white canvas…..big whoop…..(the image found above this post has nothing to do with this imaginary piece)…not going to lie…..a part of me still doesn’t get it. But DAMN, there’s SOMETHING pretty about the simplicity of that bold toned geometry making a stand against the emptiness of the infinity behind it.

Why of all things would I be speaking of Minimalism though? Well, simple, I seem to really like it. There’s no agenda here. I’m not trying to make you imagine that red square on a blank canvas and give you some pretense of “what it reaaaally means maaaaan…” No, I think it’s a beautiful art form, state of mind even. This little blurb I’ve put together here in no way does it justice, I get that. I imagine that I’ll revisit this subject matter when I have a better grasp on it. But for now, I think it’s incredible to be effected, even on a small scale by anything that seems to almost aggressively attempt to void itself of impactive entities. At least, that’s my take on it.

It’s balance. A carefully calculated, but instinctively intense balance.

* The piece above is called “Circular” from a recent exploration into minimalism of mine. I’ll pop a link below to the Behance project when I post it in the next coming weeks.

Boy, oh boy!

I’ve ghosted you, I know… I’m tempted to apologize out of habit, but in this particular case, I think it was worth the wait. Behind the scenes here, I’ve been brewing up new ideas and thought approaches to my work and everything surrounding it. In truth, I suppose I can go so far as to extend that to most other aspects of my life as well.

Ever hear of imposter syndrome? Well, if not, it’s essentially the situation you find yourself in when you begin to compare yourself to those around you, and no matter what, you just do NOT belong. I’ve found myself feeling this way repeatedly for a while now, and while it still creeps up, I’ve managed to accept it as a bit of a badge of honor. Sure, I still feel like I have no idea what fuck I’m doing, but this also gives me the advantage of thinking and approaching ideas from a perspective outside of “learned” constraints. Mind you, those constraints exist for a reason, and I look forward to learning them all and mastering them as time goes on, only to strive to break them again. For now though, I’ll continue stumbling, fumbling, and mumbling to myself while making my way towards better results.

So what have I been up to SPECIFICALLY? A little bit of this, a pinch or two of that. No, really. One day I’m practicing a bit of sculpting in ZBrush, fall asleep watching Houdini tutorials hoping my subconscious is still paying attention somehow, binging podcasts on design and business, the normal stuff I guess. Life threw a bit of a curve at me recently that caused me to have to regroup and adapt, but I think it’s safe to say it’s about time to kick off again.

So (I really mean it this time) STAY TUNED! There’s definitely more to come.

*The image used for this particular blog post is a frame of a personal project in the works.

Hello hello!

So, I suppose that this is where I should introduce myself. Born in the states in a borough called Brooklyn, and here I am in a town called Grantham in the UK. It’s a change for sure. One moment I’m surrounded by buildings, the next it’s cows, and the occasional herd of sheep.  “Dollars” to “Pounds”, “Stop and Shop” to “Asda”….you get the point. Along with this change comes a complete appreciation for the scenery. Unlike NYC, the layout here is brimming with history. A modern flesh, built upon the anatomy of many yesterdays ago. I absolutely love it. Call it my metropolitan eyes, but I’m fascinated by the occasional hidden single carriage-way avenue, or vast landscapes with their remote castles.

All of that feeds back into my love of art, or really anything creative. I’ve been drawing for as long as I can remember. That being said, it’s not my greatest skill, so thank f*** for computers; more specifically, 3D. Modeling, lighting, sculpting, simulations, on and on. I love every aspect of it, and the ceiling for what can be done and to learn is so far beyond reach, I don’t think I will ever have my fill. At the moment though, I’m working mainly with Maxon Cinema 4D R19, Adobe After Effects/Illustrator/Photoshop, and a few 3rd party plugins for each. While those are my main bread and butter go-to’s, I am dabbling in Pixelogic ZBrush, BlackMagic Fusion, Autodesk Fusion 360, and just baaaaarely scratching the surface with SideFX Houdini. Dare I say again, soooooo much to learn and play with.

I wasn’t always an exclusively visual artist though, music was my first real love; Clarinet through elementary and middle school, and guitar/vocals/bass, as well as music production on a through a host of DAWs onwards from there. Metal, funk, folk, blues, edm, chill, jazz, etc. What can I say? ! just love a good groove. 

I suppose that’s it for now. I can go on of course, but I’m sure more will be revealed little by little as I continue posting from day to day. I can’t wait to share with you guys little tricks, or simply fun facts that I come across in my journey to improving myself through art.

Check back soon!