My Theory

Ask any artist why they create art and they'll likely tell you that it is a form of therapy, or something along those lines. So, to avoid the cliche, I've bypassed that question and asked myself a deeper question, "Why is art therapeutic for me?" The answer lies in my bewildered mind. I get lost inside my head when working through the details of how I'm going to create a certain piece of art. The outside world becomes distant, and I have gone completely inward in my thoughts. The same feeling you get when engrossed in a good book. It can be a nice escape from reality, and exercises a part of the brain that we don't get to use in our daily lives. The ability to think about abstract ideas and paint pictures in our minds originates from somewhere in our subconscious. That inner spark of imagination seems to defy explanation, and words fall short in describing where it comes from. What comes out of it is art. It's why some people write music, some people paint, some people dance. In other words, art is the nonverbal expression of our subconscious.

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Geometry has always struck a chord with me. It was my favorite subject in high school, and it is why I later got my bachelor's degree in architecture in college. I now find at this point in my life, that it is working it's way into my art as well. My obsession with order and balance seems to have culminated with the creation of kaleidoscoped photographs. Artistic expression can show the world what interests you most in a way that regular communication can't. How else can you explain to someone that certain color combinations and geometries put your mind at ease? I suppose you could, but they might look at you funny. So instead, I create images that I like, and show them to the world, and hope that they feel the same way I do about them.

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What I've learned from people's reactions to my work is that we're all wired in pretty much the same way. The two reactions I have gotten the most are that they have discovered faces in the symmetries, and that they have chosen their favorite piece based on the colors in it. I can completely agree with that sentiment. I've thrown out perfectly good creations simply because the colors didn't agree with me. (I have since learned to not even attempt to create art out of anything maroon, brown, and lime green.) As for finding faces in these kaleidoscopes, I could write a small book about my thoughts on that subject, but I'll try and be brief about it here. I think we are hard-wired to see ourselves in nature. We see faces in clouds, rocky cliffs, trees, you name it. Our bodies are symmetrical, so it's perfectly understandable that faces pop out in these kaleidoscopes. What has really fascinated me however, is how you can take an inanimate object, (like a yellow tractor in this example) and it will resemble a flower when mirrored into a hexagon. Why is that? There is clearly something deeper to our connection with nature than meets the eye.

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In summation, I have become one with the universe through my art. I have also discovered that we are unique creatures, capable of deep and abstract thoughts. We can be emotionally moved by different arrangements of colors and shapes (which is pretty odd when you think about it). These are the colors and shapes that have moved me. I hope they will inspire you to turn your subconscious thoughts into colors and shapes as well.