'tude.

-Which are you? An artist/designer who chooses to conform to a predecessor or a historic style, or, do you assert your own individual free will through your work? Defend and explain.


Eh. Another either or question. I think we all know by now that I'm not going to be able to give such a black and white answer. 


That being said, let's move on. 


I'd like to think of myself as an individual who is inspired by past and present. I tend not think about the future so much. It's too dismal. But my thoughts occupy themselves impressively with themes of what used to be and what currently is. And from my thoughts and thinks stem my ideas, my notions, my ideas. 


I take interest in human life that surrounds me. Since a lot of what surrounds me also happened to exist in the past -- perhaps a past I was in, perhaps a past before my time, I also am extremely enthralled in that. It's just how I roll. Many of the concepts and events that have happened have inspired me in my work, yet they are still channeled through me first. Wherever these thinks come from... the Universe? Europe? Kansas? ... they have to pass through me - through my brain - before they hit paper or canvas or film or whatever happens to be within reach. 


Much of my photography is captured candidly. I photograph what I see, not what I know or think. I'd like to change this. Well, maybe not so much change as revise. I love going out and being a picture taker, but I'd also like to get to know the picture maker side of myself. Much of what I write would be better suited in a different media. It may not necessarily even be photography, either. Who knows. We'll see. 




-Which does your artistic attitude focus upon? Accuracy? Distortion? or Idealization? Defend and explain.


Idealization. Naturalism. Romance. Humanism. The list goes on. 


Explain, you ask? Because these are the things that I deem important and a part of my thought processes. I don't know why, exactly. They just do. Accepting/acknowledging them is something that I've struggled with for a while and now that I've finally been able to, I don't really want to look the proverbial gift horse in the mouth. 


I'm sure these values will change. Indeed, I expect them to. Some may stay, some may go... they're really just the dependent variables of how much life I've lived. I realize that and can do nothing about it except go with the flow. Ride the tide. Hang ten, dude. It's an exhausting process. No wonder he majority of people look back on their teen and young adult years as an angsty time full of upheaval and change. But it creates creativity and stimulates thoughts and results in unstable yet experienced middle aged people. (My thoughts on this whole thing are alarmingly skewed on whether it's a positive or negative experience, so bear with the occasional sardonic contradicitons.)


But since these values are here now, they guide me in how I think, how I look at the world, how I present myself and my art to fellow humans.