When I was five years old, I got a rocking horse and cap guns for Christmas. Since then I have always wanted to be a cowboy. I couldn't and I didn't so I decided to be an artist.
The act of creativity, whether it is theatre, music, dance or art, is the act of living life and creating life. It defines who you are. Jackson Pollock once wrote “every good painter paints what he is”. You can not stay in your backyard to discover the world. (You might as well be fashioned with blinders!) I say you are what you paint and all things that enter your life whether it be the people that you meet, the places that you’ve been to and the objects that you find, all come to define who you are through association. Artists must be passionate about their world. We are lucky to be able to go deeper to discover the greater meaning…the MYSTERY, the POWER! Is it any different than Einstein searching for the truth of the universe? Is it “la joie de vivre” that Renoir often referred to when he talked about painting wonderful, quiet, joyful subjects because there’s enough chaos in the world? How lucky are we to find this life long GIFT! To paint is to be human. To paint is to breathe life into your subject. To paint is to connect with one’s spirit, one’s soul. This is the harmony of life itself, which I believe IS “the gift”. To celebrate the smallest things in life only to find their deeper meaning and then share it with others… is the greatest gift of all.
Barry McCarthy
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