Life is painful. It has thorns, like the stem of a rose. Culture and art are the roses that bloom on the stem. The flower is yourself, your humanity. Art is the liberation of the humanity inside your self.
Daisaku Ikeda
President, Soka Gakkai International. http://www.sgi-usa.org
About my art @:
http://www.curtisgraphics.com/f_artpg.html
These images are in themselves "Metaphysical Symbols". Form and color are combined, united and harmonized to create heart felt impressions of life. They are not meaningless abstractions. The concept of inner radiating light plays an integral role in the development of these images. This light emanates from within a counterpoint of darkness and shadow. In some of these images the light is radiating from without almost hiding the shadow. In others the light is radiating from within the darkness and is almost hidden. The light expresses all the positive forces of nature including growth and expansion, the power of intellect and most important, the power of transcendental love. The darkness elicits the dark forces of nature and of humankind; anger; resentment; hatred; complacency. Ironically, we cannot have one without the other. The darkness increases the beauty of the light just as evil contrasting benevolence enhances the joy one experiences by doing a good deed. It is an eternal paradox.
My work is characterized by a fusion of color, form and texture. As a stained glass artist, I am familiar with the power of light and the difference between RGB and CMYK as well as the three primary colors; Red, Blue and Yellow and how they break down into their cool and warm counterparts.
The psychological, symbolic and spiritual aspects of color are also of great interest to me. According to Johannes Itten; yellow symbolizes piercing intellect, red is the heaviest of the three primaries which makes it the most earth-bound of the three and blue, because of its receding quality, in other words its depth, is the most spiritual of colors.
When working with pigments, yellow, especially when placed on a dark ground, is the most luminous of colors. Because stained glass is actually colored light, (RGB), its properties are quite different. Cobalt blue is the most luminous color in a stained glass window.
Regarding what makes a good design, well that is another subject altogether. Good design depends upon how one orders the basic design elements. I was taught that there are five design elements; line, shape, color, value and texture. When working on a flat surface, shape and value work together to make form. With the addition of color, the form evokes a stronger "feeling". It is given more substance. How one orders these design elements within a structured symmetrical or asymmetrical design is dependent upon the personality of the individual artist. The development of balance is a traditional, very classical goal to be adhered to. However, for the purpose of evoking certain psychological themes, I have found a strong imbalance to be effective.
I believe the future of design will see more substance in terms of an intermixture of classical as well as contemporary themes introduced by artists. We posses an extremely broad history of art that can be drawn upon with the introduction of both small and sometimes very large innovations.
In summation, my work is about light. This is because of my background as a stained glass designer working with colored light. Stained glass is also an environmental art form which transforms the interior of its setting. Experiment 46 evokes an interior realm of existence deep within. There are conflicting elements within each of us. Refined to their most basic common denominator they are; positive and negative forces which animate us and make us who we are.
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