Number 3

I have been ask many times throughout the years what inspires me to produce the various forms of art that I am impassioned to create. Well, there are a myriad of inspirations, all of which originate from being human. We all go through life experiencing a multitude of events or, at the very least, observing these events that expose us to pain and pleasure in various degrees and various forms. Not one of us will escape some degree of struggle from the moment of our conception til the moment of our death. I and many people call this 'The Human Condition'.

There are predominantly two areas of our human condition that occupy my thought processes and they alone generate enough inspiration for any artist. They are religion and ethics, and from these two areas spring forth all sorts of pain and suffering, love and hate, pleasure, fear, and freedom and bondage, envy and jealousy. The list can go on and on, so you can imagine the vastness of this landscape of inspiration from which I have at my fingertips to pick.

The mystery in this whole concept of inspiration is that I never know from one moment to the next precisely which of these various possibilities will captivate me, and I truly mean 'captivate me'. The mystery is 'Do I pick the content of the work of art' or 'Does the content of the work pick me'? This sounds philosophical but can I be certain of the truth of the matter? It's somewhat like that age old question, 'Which came first, the chicken or the egg'.

I am not a rocket scientist nor am I an intellectual but I am most definitely a sensitive, feelings kind of guy. My emotions can run wild and sometimes I find difficulty in completely grasping the whole range of, my sometimes, mixed emotions and feelings.

I do however think that I am much like most people but with the one exception, I have a compulsion to transpose my feelings and emotions into a work of art. This I think is one of the things that separates the artist from non-artists. The other is that artist have a passion to master the medium that best suites the particular work of art they have chosen to produce.

There are many people that conceptualize content that if brought to fruition in a well executed form and the appropriate medium it would stand the test of qualifying as a fine art. The artist however is the one who conceptualizes the piece, chooses the medium, designs the content and works out all problems in order to bring this work to fruition.

The content of a work of art is more than merely the items to make up the piece. If people are in the piece, what are they doing, what does their body language suggest, what expressions are on their faces, should they be clothed or naked? There are a multitude of decisions to make and be made without the fear of retribution from your friends, your family or the general public. Art is freedom of expression. It makes no difference how talented an artist is, if he or she does not work with the sense of freedom their work will be dead, it will not stand the test of Fine Arts.

I despise 'Arts and Craft' shows simply because they invariably falsely educate the public by dumping or mixing arts and crafts together. This does grave damage to the fine arts artists. Some people will say that I am a snob for feeling this way, but if you are a hair stylist you would not appreciate being called a barber. A chef would not want to be referred to as a cook. I don't think of this as being snobbish, but it is distinguishing the difference that truly exists.

I can cook a steak but it wont compare to the steak of the chef, and I can cut hair but the hair stylist would maybe tactfully laugh at my work and my client chase me with my scissors!! I believe that it is very important that Arts and Crafts be shown in different venues, and I also believe artists should refuse to exhibit their art alongside of crafts, not out of snobbery but in support of their fellow artists.

Til my next blog have a great day.

Finton