Why do we create?
While the intention of this blog in its first iteration was to explore the creative process and the multifaceted realisations of that process, it seems appropriate now to extend its scope to include the creative purpose. That is to say, further to how we create, why do we create in the first place?
In the more recent development of my own artistic practice, I worked to create a visual style that satisfied a very personal aesthetic predilection. Combining simple elements drawn from and refined through many years of observation and discernment, my style reveals an enjoyment in the simplest expression of an idea or feeling. My creative process has become intuitive yet pragmatic.
With my artistic voice well defined I began to focus on understanding what exactly I was trying to say. Why am I making paintings, if not for the pure enjoyment of adding pigment to substrate?
Searching for purpose
Here I moved into the world of research, of searching for the purpose behind the practice. Asking questions like; What is my primary concern, Why does it matter, and Who might feel this way too?
At the time of this searching, starting in December 2022, my life had reached a point of renewal. Everything had changed and I was deep in the cave of shadow work, above all things I was searching for myself. It was time to understand why I'd reached this point, and what I really wanted to do with my life.
For me, these moments often lead me into books, and that's where I went; reading Eckhart Tolle, Deepak Chopra, Carl Jung, Joseph Campbell, Funitake Koga & Ichiro Kishimi, and many spiritual texts from across the globe. The search for purpose, paired with lots of free time, initiated an intense journey of enlightenment. For every question raised, a multitude of answers would appear and many new questions too…
This is when I began to write my own book of understanding. The Space Between the Shadows started to take shape as an attempt to combine the physical and the metaphysical through the lens of lived experience and human emotion. Posing questions and suggesting answers, some of which I shall be sharing in this blog over the coming months.
We may only view the world, indeed the universe, through the lens of our own experiences. Our frame of reference exists only in the sphere of our lived experience and education (formal or otherwise). However, it is through this lens in combination with empathy that we may relate to another person, and this must start with respect.
All actions and feelings are the responsibility of those who own them, so when we trust and respect our neighbours implicitly we allow them to communicate these with us openly in an effort to move toward a point of mutual understanding. It would be impossible to know the motives of everyone around us, sometimes even our closest peers keep these hidden. So when we start from a point of implicit respect we assume nothing, and listen to everything; verbal, tacit, emotional and cultural.
Furthermore, at our very core we all are the same, and as such deserve a level foundation on which to build relationships; this foundation being our own resilience, our sense of self, love and respect. Ideally paired with the ancient wisdom, to treat others as you would like to be treated.
Being Human
In returning to purpose, when approaching my art it is this deep feeling of love and respect for life that forms the foundation of my practice. Striving towards a feeling of unifying gratitude for the opportunity to be here, to learn and grow, and to share in this journey with all who breathe the same air.