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In a way, we’re all artists. We’re all also trying to be happy. I believe that happiness is the answer. I believe that the more joyful one’s life is, the more wonderful the world gets. That’s all the world really needs.
A lot of people have labels put on them by society. Some are negative. Some are positive. They’re just labels, though. This show is about expressing art. This show is about looking past labels on people and just seeing the art.
When I paint, sometimes I feel better. The past few days, I’ve been working on watercolor still lifes. Sometimes I brood while I paint, and I don’t like that. What art does for me, though, is it gives me a sense of purpose. Also, sometimes art releases the tension of the day for me.
I really love the work of fashion designer Leigh Bowery. He seemed very passionate about what he was doing. I’m a painter; he was a fashion designer. But we’re both creatives. As I paint, sometimes I think about how the art I work on will change my life. Maybe this will be the piece that opens doors. Maybe it’ll make me money. Maybe some famous art critic will love it, write about it, and make me more visible as an artist. Maybe that critic will see my art, love my style, and express to the world that I am a visionary like Leigh Bowery.
I also visualize how I want this all to happen now, with this painting, every time I work on one. I believe we all have a style.
Sometimes I get burnt out by the art world. I think of myself stuck in a relentless, mechanical system, where a voice is constantly yelling, “Keep going! Keep going! Keep going!” And that’s all I do. I’m bored by art. I can’t even do anything. All I paint are the same boring symbols over and over again. I once loved the TV show known as art. Now it’s just reruns. It’s dull. And everyone can see it. I’ve lost my touch.
But on the other hand, these are all phases of my art. They all add up. I wouldn’t make one painting if there wasn’t a reason to. Each painting is a self-portrait. I like certain subjects. The general public does too. There are always elements of myself in my work.
I know a person whose art looks like an artist who lost his style. Each of his paintings looks like it was done by a different person. This is not bad. If this person were dead, like Picasso, art historians would see every move he made as genius. Each painting is a reflection of where he was as he lived. He created the antidote to the world’s problems in his art, and he should be honored. Every artist should.
We might die, but our paintings might live on. Imagine if your paintings were discovered by archaeologists ten thousand years from now in a society just like this one. Everyone would value your art. They would all consider you a legend. Everything about you would be there. It’s like your ghost. People could dream about you, and there you’d be—still existing.
Some people, like me, are Christians who believe that all things exist as parallel universes. Every thought you can think of exists in another parallel universe. So your world of art is, to me, one of these places. That’s what you’re doing with your art.
Art is scary. Sometimes I don’t even want to paint because the whole thing feels cursed. This show is about people who look past the curse and do art anyhow. They find their pleasure in life through art. They create their parallel universe. Sometimes it’s not a fun world, like when I paint and brood at the same time. But this all totally exists.
I just want to show, in this art show, artists being themselves. I believe that makes this universe a better place.
- Colin Hurley