Last year I had a very strange dream. I was in a big art show with different hallways. I kept running around asking if anyone knew where Gustav was. I had to speak to Gustav. Mind you, at the time I had no idea who Gustav was. I just knew I had to find him before the show started. I eventually did find him across a large room. He was surrounded by others who wouldn't let me through to him. But he made eye contact with me.
And the eyes said patience. I took a deep breath in the dream and walked back to my own area.
So I woke and thought nothing else of the dream. Again I had no idea who Gustav was. This was a crazy time. I had 8 creatives here from out of state and was hosting them in the studio. While at the same time I was working on developing work based on Cubism. I was trying to understand it better. I had no idea I was on the edge of a major change as an artist.
So a few days later I had another dream. It was the same man I saw in the previous dream. He said three words to me. "Just Let Go". I woke in a cold sweat. Whoever this was, I'd better listen even though I was not sure what it meant.
So I continued my experiments in Cubism and hosted my visitors. I'd gotten a bit obsessive about the cubist idea and I pushed myself to create a whole series of cubist pieces. There was something here, I just couldn't see it yet.
Then suddenly something changed. Between 2 pieces, I could sense that the second piece was somehow different. Then I remembered the words "Just Let Go" and I recognized the change. For this piece I'd forgotten everything I knew and had just let the piece flow organically. It was more colorful, had more depth. It went places the previous pieces hadn't gone. I describe it as "through the looking glass". I was on the opposite side looking out of the glass.
I'd let go.
And that was when I saw the book in my storage area. A book about Egon Schiele the Austrian born artist. The page was opened to a photo of two men, one Schiele and the other another artist named Gustav Klimt. And I recognized Klimt. I got a shiver. This was the same man from the dreams. This was my Gustav!
ok...ok...what did this mean? Same day I discovered how to let go I also discovered the identity of the man who told it to me.
I needed to move and move fast before the knowledge in my head disappeared. So I went into the studio, tore down what I was doing and created a whole new set. I then organized a body painting session with 3 of my best models and I set to work to create...create what exactly? It wasn't cubism anymore. What the hell was this? Leaving it nameless I did the first in 12 shoots.
I could see immediately that my work was different because it was almost dreamlike. I described it first as seeing the subject through fractured glass. It was tumultuous. And so Tumultuism as an art form was born. Over 12 shoots, I refined the style and worked it carefully into a complete definition of what Tumultuism was. What defined it different from other concepts.
Now a year later, I claim Gustav Klimt as not only my inspiration, but if you look at his work, you realize that odd fractured quality was something he started. I'd like to think he realized he hadn't finished what he started so he passed it on to me. But whatever it is, I feel now like I have a guardian angel, or a patron saint watching out for me.
It changed everything and it will continue to do so. The concept is not static. Its meant to change over time.
Thank you Gustav.
