Finding Your Voice

I attended the opening of a gallery show this evening. Among the interesting people I spoke with (fluids in hand for my throat) was this Chinese chap who was an architect who dreamed of being an artist. The thing was, he had no vision, and no voice.

It is wonderful to study technique. It is wonderful to study art history, but ultimately, you have to dive into the pit and create. Speak. It is only through trusting yourself and creating that you will find your voice.

Voice is several things. It is style, and it is existential paradigm, what you are talking about and the language you go about saying it in. This is so individual, but for this lad, that was the very hurdle. In his culture, individualism is about as charming as Satanism, so he had to breach this by encouraging himself, or forgiving himself for 'being eccentric'.

Now, most artists have a certain eccentricity to them. The diva of Devi Arts is no ecception, but I recognized that coming from the culture this man did, he was up against a lot of internalized programming. I encouraged him to find his voice. I asked him what kind of style he did his architecture in and perhaps to see if he could fluidly translate this into his art - which would be an interesting thing. Perhaps he wanted to veer away from this completely. That is fine too, but to you, reading this blog, the takeaway is this: Do. Create. Be. Choose. Risk. Trust yourself. Find your voice.

This is true if you are a painter, but it is also true for you as a human being. Find your own voice. Let no one dictate it or trick it from you. Live life as art.