How my brain works, the brain of an artist, is a mystery. Maybe not to psychologists or scientists or maybe not even my parents....but to me, it's a mystery to me. Why do most of my idea's for paintings come from anxiety attacks? Why do I feel closest to God when I'm at a stinky crowded noisy show? Every once in a while I'll come across a painting or a piece of music or a movie and I'll think "Oh my goodness that's exactly how I see the world". This happened when I saw "The Science of Sleep" Directed by Micheal Gondry, This is why I connect with many of the Wes Anderson films, because of the way he shoots things (i.e. paying close attention to detail, making colors pop, take/double take shots). This is what happened when I discovered Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele and it's even how I feel when I look at Tim Lowly's paintings. I experience these things and I know some one out there see's the world the same way I do, this is refreshing when you can't relate to most of the kind of art the media is saturated with.
Every once in a while I'll go on www.vimeo.com and check out the favorites posted on the front page, this leads me on a path that is full of some amazingly animated short films. Recently I came across "La Fete" by Malcom Sutherland. This short is about a celebration in Quebec involving quite the eclectic crowd, and when I watched it I got that feeling, I thought "This is exactly how my brain processes a crowd". It's quite amazing, check it out.
This is all relating to visually experienced art, and although I didn't include Theater in this post it can some times apply to shows I see....but I think watching theater is about something else. Something else that must be talked about at a different time.
As far as how this relates to music...well since I see the world through music and through rhythm on a near constant basis it's a little different, so to hear a piece of music and think "This is how I see the world" doesn't happen as often as maybe hearing a piece of music and feeling "This is how I feel the world". Does that make sense?
I do this, and I think most other people like me do this, where they pass a book or a movie or a painting or music on a person not only because it is "good" to them, but it effects them in a way that might explain to that person what makes them tick. One of the fabulous ways art can be used, as a tool to better understand the people around us, and how they see the world. Isn't that amazing?
