THE STUDIO
Standing
in front of Van Gogh’s painting of his studio in the National Gallery in
London; I’m struck by power of color more than the image itself. The stark contrast of subject matter,
blinding color and the raw emotion of his pallet overwhelm me. Behind me, someone says “don’t know what the
big deal is, he wasn’t very good was he?
I mean look, you can even see the canvas underneath the painting!” Rather than turning to confront him, it
suddenly occurred to me that this was what Van Gogh and all the others of his
time, well for all time actually, were up against as artists.
The creative spirit is a much maligned and
misunderstood entity. This movement of
energy in the heart and soul is meant to be expressed or intense suffering
results. Like a river, the energy flows
and wends its’ way through the nooks and crannies of our being and as we are
creative beings, expressing this energy is as unique as a finger print and our
own personal expression is our gift to our personal world. Unfortunately, we have not been taught to
understand or honor this creativity and instead we buy into commonly held
belief systems taught for centuries that we have to “earn a living by the sweat
of our brow”, do meaningless tasks, chores and jobs that push creativity away or
dam it up in order to “do” something else more “practical” with our time. And, as often as not, this energy is used not
for enhancing our lives, but for more destructive purposes. We don’t have to look far to see where this
has taken us.
Regrettably,
art is much misunderstood and therefore considered out of reach by most
people. This assumption is not helped by
“art critics” who drone on in terms unintelligible to the average person or the
media which only spotlights the extreme expressions of “art or culture”. Art collecting is thought to be the
exclusive domain of the rich and famous and a normal person who likes art is
intimidated often by snooty galleries or so-called art experts.
For
centuries the artists’ studio has been the one place where collectors, art
appreciators and dealers could go to discuss the work in person. Often collectors snapped up the art before
it had even been shown to the public, but of course without this direct support
the artist couldn’t continue the work.
As an aside, just as one could
not judge an artist’s life by a piece or two shown in a gallery, the
accumulated years of work in the studio will provide a platform explore the
breadth, expansion and direction the artist is working towards.
The
studio also is the heartbeat in an artists’ life. Worldly affairs are left outside while the
current of creative energy is allowed to flow unimpeded to express what and
where it will, either in creating, discussing or exploring aspects of art. As this energy is common to all, even though
not always expressed, this would be one of the main reasons why art is such an
important aspect of life. When you find
a piece of work which speaks to you, this resonance connects you with your own
creative energy flow and a “romance” of sorts is born. This is why it is so important to fill your
home with art---it does wonders to mitigate the manufactured/decorated effect
and gives a personal feeling to your home.
My partner, artist Chris MacClure and I opened
a working studio in Cabo San Lucas, Baja, back in 1997 and amazingly over the
next 13 years it morphed into the premier gallery in Los Cabos, with over 16
world class artists in our stable.
Working in a third world country took its’ toll on our creativity and we
moved back home to White Rock full time in 2010. Casting around for a place to hang our hat,
we decided White Rock was the best place to be.
We have some history here, we love the city and we found the perfect
location across from the iconic whaling wall at 15177 Russell St.
Named
after our gallery in Cabo, THE GOLDEN CACTUS STUDIO, is the quintessential
working studio. We feature our own work
as well as a 3D glass/multi media artist Trish Pollock. We’ll offer classes, talks and the coffee is
always on for art lovers wanting to feel something of the studio life and of
course art galore at studio prices!
