“My fear of life is necessary to me, as is my illness. Without anxiety and illness, I am a ship without a rudder. My art is grounded in reflections over being different from others. My sufferings are part of my self and my art. They are indistinguishable from me, and their destruction would destroy my art. I want to keep those sufferings.”
Continuing my reading of ‘The Mind of the Artist’ by William Todd Schulz – such an insightful book. I’m on the chapter about how inspiration and creativity needs a seed to begin from, and that is the work of other artists.
So, I am spending some time considering western art movements and those artists that speak to me. The top for me is Edvard Munch. I visited the Munch museum in Oslo last year and honestly I could have spent 3 whole days there rather than the 3 short hours that we had. Expressionism draws me in as I often want to paint feelings, emotions, all the inner stuff and sensations. From my Oslo visit I learned a lot more about Munch and his feelings about love, anxiety and death in particular and, well, glad to be part of the club!
I will research Munch more and hopefully take another trip to Oslo soon to spend more time in the Munch museum. I have a few unfinished paintings that I want to be in the style of Munch. I’m hoping with his work and writing as validation I will find the courage to let go a little more and see what comes. Very important to me to share quotes here for future reference.
Speaking of validation, another reason I admire Munch, he was one for having many ‘unfinished’ paintings that he would leave and come back to, rework and leave some more. I suspect this is a common thing among artists but good to have the validation from a master.
