Why should anyone listen to me? That is a very good question. I am not so sure anyone should. But that will not stop me from having somethings to share. I expect, at least as I start this, I will mostly be speaking generally to the universe and specifically to a few close friends. That is just fine by me. I am an artist and that is what I hope to talk about in this blog. Art.
To me everyone, every human being, carries in them creative potential. This spark, in my humble opinion, is innate in us. I look at the the cave art at Chauvet in southeastern France. 30,000 years ago paleolithic people were compelled to render the world around them in the dark of limestone cave near their settlement. Beyond survival, beyond pursuing shelter and food, they invested precious resources in wondrous works that we rediscovered in 1994. Hand prints, very common across cave art across the globe are there and so much more. Beautifully detailed renderings of the European lion, rhinoceros, cave bear and wild horses all now extinct. Over thousands of years art was refined and added to, so it is clear the work was respected and worthy of ongoing creative investment. If Paleolithic peoples made ar,t we certainly have no excuse for not carrying on in our resource-rich world. So why do so many of us believe we are not creative or that being creative is a waste of time? Speaking from my own struggle, I think our creativity scares us. Manifesting something from nearly nothing seems like magic. And in our overly practical, overly chaotic and overly cynical world, magic has no place. We are told time and time again to be practical and grow up, be responsible. We honor those who sacrifice personal happiness and peace-of-mind to their careers to achieve success as role models. To ourselves we downplay the time spent pursuing art or music as "just a hobby" or "playful distraction, almost apologizing for the pursuit. I lived this for far too long. While I have a career as a creative, this kind of commercial path never fulfilled the spark to simply create that burned inside of me. It has taken me decades to get over this mindset and see creativity for what it is. It's me. It's honest. Its something I need to say, craft, express, manifest and share. I am so much happier when I create, when I loose my self in the rush of ideas and possibilities that turn into works of art. My belief is that everyone has this spark inside of them just waiting to be heeded. All of you hidden painters, poets, chefs, artists and makers of things beautiful, please understand what I am saying, heed the kind spark of creativity. You will be happy that you did.
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Paul J. Bryant is an American born figurative, landscape and portrait artist living in Luxembourg. Archives
October 2021
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