Why Did You Paint That? Telling The Story Of Your Art….

After discovering my artwork for the first time, the question I am going to hear is “Why Do You Paint That?” I’ve been asked countless times, and every time I answer this question differently.

You see, when it comes to writing about my art, or talking about why I became an artist, there is no one correct answer.

Not one sentence can summarise ‘how did you end up here’

As an artist you are often asked to summarise your story in just 150 words or why did you paint that in under 300 characters. There is a limit to what you can communicate in restricted circumstances.

My life experiences, differ from the artist standing beside me, my current circumstances also vary from my own last week or 5 years ago.

These experiences alter our perspectives, beliefs and our values, myself I have had many ups and downs. It took a long time for me to learn who I really was and I continue to learn.

I have touched on it before, but growing up in a regional mining town, with a very limited cultural outlet left me feeling lost for the most part of my childhood. My lack of desire to participate in team sports had me feeling like ‘I didn’t fit in’. After moving to ‘the city’ as a teenager I was finally surrounded by arts and culture, music became a huge fixation and I had finally found ‘my people’.

So, this gives you a very base understanding as to why I choose to paint subjects reflective of pop culture, but the reality is I grew up in the 80’s-90s everything was still plastic fantastic, Ken Done was bringing vibrant quilt covers to our childhood beds and pop art was prominent.

My grandfather was a sign writer and using a brush makes me feel connected. I worked in floristry and high end retail for many years, fashion, colour and marketing have surrounded me throughout my journey.

All of these things are just facts. I could extend on this, but I would likely exceed the limited ‘word count’.

You see it is not just these facts, but the events and the resulting feelings that arise with them.

You evolve as human and as an artist.

My brushstrokes are the developed signature of my emotions.

In summary, we have all experienced highs and lows, these show up differently from one artist to the next we live in different locations with varying health and financial circumstances.

No ARTIST is the same.

I can assure you, that there is much more than just those words you hear or read, the story is much deeper than that which appears on the surface.  If the opportunity is there ask your favourite artist their story.

AND ARTISTS, I have spoken to so many successful artist feeling somewhat deflated because your “theoretical statement” didn’t suit the gallery or you were not selected for that exhibition.

That’s okay.

Like every artist, every gallery, every judge is different too. It’s the nature of the industry.

When it comes to squeezing your life story into 150 words, remember to stick the usual Who, What, When, Where and Whys, but most importantly stay true to yourself and just do your best.