As someone who loves Jesus and makes art, I believe we are not only physical, flesh and blood, but also spiritual. Holy Spirit, God, lives inside of me; bringing real life to my physical body. My body will die, but my spirit will go on forever; for eternity. In my art I wrestle through these ideas of eternal spirituality in a physical manner. In an attempt to touch things that are unseen, I currently explore this connection between the physicality of making objects and my own spirituality.
We engage the physical world around us through our senses; what we see, touch, smell, taste and hear. Traditionally painting is heavily dominated by physical objects that create meaning based on visual experience. My process of making includes blindfolding myself. By doing so, I block the fundamental source of acquiring physical information. By taking away my sight, I limit my dependence on vision. In a way this balances out my physical and spiritual senses. Think of it this way, why do many Christians close their eyes during prayer? Closing your eyes limits the distractions and provides a freedom to focus on the spiritual realm.
Using large amounts of thick, gloppy paint allows me to render physical aspects without looking with my eyes. Able to feel more easily with the thick paint, I have a gage for the painting’s physical form. Similarly, I choose to paint monochromes for an aspect of control. Using one color versus using many colors, again limits the visual, physical side of the work.
Another key theme in my current work is the use of text. In most cases words are written down to pass along information. We use words as symbols to represent objects. When seeing my work, you will notice that this is not the case. By writing indecipherable words I hope to bring attention to the physicality of our written words, but also hint at the spiritual nature of the spoken word. As I carve these words into the paint I speak the words out loud.
I choose not to look at my work during or after it is completed. Honestly, I am not fully aware of all the reasons why I make this choice. One possible explanation is to retain a relationship similar to faith and prayer. Like faith, I believe something exists even when I don’t see with my natural eyes. And also like when I pray, I trust that heaven is moving each time I speak. I hope to create a framework for myself and others to think and reflect on these topics of physicality and spirituality.
We engage the physical world around us through our senses; what we see, touch, smell, taste and hear. Traditionally painting is heavily dominated by physical objects that create meaning based on visual experience. My process of making includes blindfolding myself. By doing so, I block the fundamental source of acquiring physical information. By taking away my sight, I limit my dependence on vision. In a way this balances out my physical and spiritual senses. Think of it this way, why do many Christians close their eyes during prayer? Closing your eyes limits the distractions and provides a freedom to focus on the spiritual realm.
Using large amounts of thick, gloppy paint allows me to render physical aspects without looking with my eyes. Able to feel more easily with the thick paint, I have a gage for the painting’s physical form. Similarly, I choose to paint monochromes for an aspect of control. Using one color versus using many colors, again limits the visual, physical side of the work.
Another key theme in my current work is the use of text. In most cases words are written down to pass along information. We use words as symbols to represent objects. When seeing my work, you will notice that this is not the case. By writing indecipherable words I hope to bring attention to the physicality of our written words, but also hint at the spiritual nature of the spoken word. As I carve these words into the paint I speak the words out loud.
I choose not to look at my work during or after it is completed. Honestly, I am not fully aware of all the reasons why I make this choice. One possible explanation is to retain a relationship similar to faith and prayer. Like faith, I believe something exists even when I don’t see with my natural eyes. And also like when I pray, I trust that heaven is moving each time I speak. I hope to create a framework for myself and others to think and reflect on these topics of physicality and spirituality.
