SOMETIMES ART HAS A DESTINY

I recently brought a piece of art with me to a show. My plans were to use it as an auction piece, $1 a ticket. We'd draw a ticket and give it away at the end of the 4 days show.

Now this piece of art had a bit of a history. The original art was actually a body painting I did with a solitary model on New Years eve 2023. It was a tremendous session and the model came away from it becoming a dear friend a helper on various projects I've done since.

The name "Mona Lisa Et Universum" was given because the piece reminded me of the Mona Lisa for some reason.

In the spring I began to work on the various art that would go with me to the summer show in Providence. I wanted to use several of the pieces from earlier body painting sessions, and I chose the Mona Lisa piece to base a 3 dimensional painting on.

What came of it was called "A Banshee Crying in the Infinite Void" and she was the antithesis of the Mona Lisa piece.

The two pieces couldn't have been any more different from each other.

So August came and the Banshee was packed up and headed to show with us! I had her displayed prominently on an easel with a sign for the raffle.

Thursday came and went with only a single raffle ticket sold. We changed positions for the next day. Yet not a single ticket sold.

Saturday came and by midday I could see that it was just bombing.

I made a decision that I was just going to call the single ticket holder and give it to them that day if they still wanted it. No more than a half hour later the ticket holder passed the table and I grabbed them out of the crowd by the hand. I was so happy to see them. When I got them to the side, I stopped and looked at them closely. Suddenly everything rushed into perspective. They were transgender. I hadn't noticed before. So I took them by both hands and said "I have a story for you".

I told them about the model who had posed for the piece and what a dear friend they'd become and still were. And most important, that the model was also transgender. I explained to them that sometimes art had a destiny, and that it was their destiny to own this piece.

Needless to say, there were tears and they walked away with the art shaking their head.

And I knew that yet again, art sometimes chooses where it wants to go and nothing we say about it will stop it from going to the right hands.

And most important, that it IS NOT always about an exchange of money or charging a fee of any kind. Art sometimes has a destiny and we should always remember that.

GUSTAV KLIMT AND THE PATRON SAINT

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.

Tumultuous Death

 Tumultuous Art (Tumultuism) - A theory of art which is disorderly, fractured and dreamlike in its presentation. It may exhibit a confused state, akin to looking through a piece of fractured glass at the subject of the art, similar to an acid trip or lucid dreaming. The subjects are often out of focus. It sometimes exhibits a similarity to cubist art, but is not always about strait lines to view and interpret the subject through. The form is determined by the Abstraction Point. This is the point where the subject goes from a recognizable state to a state of total anarchy and abstraction. This is also part of the attraction of Tumultuous art because viewing close up to the image it breaks apart into an abstraction. The further back you step the more the subject of the art jumps out. The concept also utilizes the artists theories in "harmonic Dissonance". Where many layers signifying different levels of color, texture and design are brought together in harmony. Tumultuism may also include strictly monochromatic art where color is totally removed from the equation. 

Tumultuous Insanity

  Each of us defines insanity in a different way. It may be a psychological definition, extreme drug use, or just bizarre manifestation that occurs when a person goes over the edge. But we know it when we encounter it. We can see it in the faces and it can be chilling and even life changing when we encounter it.  

Tumultuous Art (Tumultuism) - A theory of art which is disorderly, fractured and dreamlike in its presentation. It may exhibit a confused state, akin to looking through a piece of fractured glass at the subject of the art, similar to an acid trip or lucid dreaming. The subjects are often out of focus. It sometimes exhibits a similarity to cubist art, but is not always about strait lines to view and interpret the subject through. The form is determined by the Abstraction Point. This is the point where the subject goes from a recognizable state to a state of total anarchy and abstraction. This is also part of the attraction of Tumultuous art because viewing close up to the image it breaks apart into an abstraction. The further back you step the more the subject of the art jumps out. The concept also utilizes the artists theories in "harmonic Dissonance". Where many layers signifying different levels of color, texture and design are brought together in harmony. Tumultuism may also include strictly monochromatic art where color is totally removed from the equation. 

Tumultuous Beasts

  Tumultuous Art (Tumultuism) - A theory of art which is disorderly, fractured and dreamlike in its presentation. It may exhibit a confused state, akin to looking through a piece of fractured glass at the subject of the art, similar to an acid trip or lucid dreaming. The subjects are often out of focus. It sometimes exhibits a similarity to cubist art, but is not always about strait lines to view and interpret the subject through. The form is determined by the Abstraction Point. This is the point where the subject goes from a recognizable state to a state of total anarchy and abstraction. This is also part of the attraction of Tumultuous art because viewing close up to the image it breaks apart into an abstraction. The further back you step the more the subject of the art jumps out. The concept also utilizes the artists theories in "harmonic Dissonance". Where many layers signifying different levels of color, texture and design are brought together in harmony. Tumultuism may also include strictly monochromatic art where color is totally removed from the equation.