Vasqi

I started painting about June of 2003, because I couldn't find an artist who was capable or willing to execute an idea I had in my head. The idea called for colour, so it didn't lend it self to graphite or charcoal drawing. And there was a lot of colours with no discernible independent identity smoothly blended, so I knew that it would need to be a painting in order to to get the colours just right, and I soon discovered that it would need to be oil in order to get the smooth transition of the colour that I desired.

The first thing that I discovered about art is that it affects the way you see things in nature. I learned a lot about colour by mixing colours (not reading about mixing colours). The first thing I learned about colour is that things are not the colour that I thought they were. Mixing colour taught me how to see colour.

Almost 6 years latter, I've come to discover that the way you know when a work is done is at the moment that you realize how you could have done the whole thing better. Essentially, every work is an exercise towards insight. To this end, all of my work is explorative, in nature.

Aside of some drawing classes I took a couple years after I started painting, I am a self taught artist. I have nothing against artists who are formally trained. In fact, I go to great lengths to educate myself about art and I have a tendency to advise other (outside) artists to do the same. I have even made attempts to organize other artists, but that did not go as well as I'd anticipated, so I am back to working alone now.

In my work, my favorite thing is to obscure the form. I have a tendency to be drawn to compositions that achieve this end. This means that the contour of the form is obscured by something like light (i.e. glare) or dark shadows, or is otherwise encouraged to merge with the background.

However, I do not obscure to the extent that the whole of the form is lost to obscurity. I prefer that enough of the form is left un-obscured that it remains recognizable.

I AM NOT AN ABSTRACT ARTIST!

I subscribe to the same school of thought as Leonardo daVinci, Paul Cezanne, and Pablo Picasso. that: the subject matter should be drawn from nature.

I AM NOT A CONCEPTUAL OR LITERARY ARTIST!

My work is not about the subject depicted, but rather the technique used to express that subject. Technique is at the heart of my work. Each work reveals a better technique to be used in the future. Each work, contributing to the evolution of technique, likewise contributes to the evolution of how I interpret the world and nature itself.

I am not suggesting that this is "the correct" way to pursue art, but that "for me" this approach is sufficient. My work as an artist, has become a kind of religion for me, which has replaced the need for any other sort of religion. I consider myself a spiritual person, but the only thing I have come to believe in is, Art.

For me, Art is a God, which when properly worshiped, grants insight. Artists worship that god when they do what they do.

... I do not push that belief on others.

Statement review (June 2009):

I prefer to identify myself as a painter. However, I also draw, write, and even screw around with digital video and photography. I engage in each for a different reason, and consequently, break them into categories.

For the most part, my visual works (drawing and painting) are imitative. I mean, I imitate nature. And for that reason, I consider those works to be meditative. By that I mean that my objective is not to express myself but rather to discipline myself.

For me, Photography is simply a study aid to my drawing and painting. However, digital video is much more of an outlet of my creative expression. The expression is manifest in the choices I make concerning capture and editing.

On the other hand, All of my emotional expression comes out in my poetry. When I am feeling strong emotions, I write. When I am feeling strong emotions that I do not feel comfortable expressing, I write Art theory and philosophy. For the most part, I do not enjoy writing stories. Writing stories doesn't serve any purpose for me, but I do enjoy reading a good classic from time to time.

I feel most inspired to do visual work after a painful experience, when I am still feeling numb. When I am feeling at a loss for any emotion to express, I paint. That is when I do my best work.

In my first semester of drawing class, I entered a student art show with a graphite self portrait and was awarded "Best in Drawing" at all levels. That was 2006.