When people find out that I’m an artist, they often hit me with the question, “What kind of art do you do?” And as often as that has been asked, I always found myself a bit unprepared. I tried various answers, some based in levity, others I tried to flavor with academic seriousness, but it always felt a bit like putting on two shoes of different sizes, neither of which is suited to my feet…and then trying to jog.

The realization has come to me that I didn’t know what to say, because I didn’t actually know the answer. So, after much contemplation, meditation, mutation and perspiration, I have come to the following conclusion:

When asked “What kind of art do you do?” – I will now answer, “Yes.”

Because that is true.

Art, to me, is not an end-product, it is not a tangible, actual, thing. Nor is it a skill set, trained repetitions of a particular product aiming for a result of an increase in Cha-Ching. Cha-Ching is, of course, not, in and of itself, necessarily a bad thing. However one must be mindful of motivations.

Art cannot be taught, for if it can, then this is Craft.

Art is a zone, a state of mind, a Quadrant Of Reality that I believe everyone can visit and live in, happily. It is not easy to reach, the road is long and sometimes so frustrating that one must pull over, find a nice spot, and have a splendid little picnic until they are ready to resume the quest.

Ah…but once arrived, the clarity is grand.

It is Your View.