Chasing Fireflies

Even the seemingly tiniest of details can contain an infinite world

of depth. (Source: http://photos8.org)

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Sometimes, people claim that analysis of certain works becomes “too deep,” that the author does not intend the work to have so much content derived from it, and that the viewer shouldn't either. I disagree.
As I explained in my "Drops of Jupiter" post, if you find a meaning that resonates in you, that's important. As an illustrator myself, I understand that art is an extremely personal matter. The artist creates the work from his or her own emotions and intellectual expertise but, in my opinion, the work doesn't “live” until the moment it is experienced by someone's senses.
Every person who looks at the work brings it alive, like a magic carpet slowly lifting its soft corners into the air. You breathe life into it. Keep in mind that you are a work of art that is being sculpted by your new experiences. Every person has a thousand important concepts in his or her mind that collide with this work. Fireworks explode!
David Bowie (yes, you heard me right), the famous avant garde rocker, has many quotes on the depth process which clarify my thoughts for you in this post:

"It's the union between the user and the art that creates and finishes the art."

The magic carpet lifts you up and away.

Okay, time for some of my cute personal stories. If you don't know, I'm a huge, huge, huge Sherlock BBC fan! (As in, I've watched every episode too many times and I like anonymously scouting Tumblr for pretty gifsets; basically, standard fan obsession, haha.) Anyway, some of my favorite YouTube phenomena are well-crafted fanmade videos, or FMVs, as they're called. (The artist splices clips from the show with music that suits the mood he or she is trying to portray. They're amateur music videos.) They have the potential to be witty and very, very pretty.
A while ago, I found a Sherlock FMV that was professionally edited and evocative. The placement of visual action mixed with audio bits was perfect; the emotional highs and lows of the song were so well brought out. So, I decided to venture onto the wild, harsh terrain of the world of YouTube comments. (Normally, I avoid this like the plague, but as you can tell, I was very inspired!)
I explained my conceptual understanding of the work. The creator thanked me but modestly claimed that I was finding unintentional depth like an English teacher! I was a bit surprised. I had been absolutely sure that the artist had been aware of the details in her creative choices.
This got me thinking. I know I can interpret emotions well. I had no doubt in my critical opinion of the work and I knew I could easily articulate my thoughts. I realized that perhaps this was the essence of the issue... Many artists create with their intuition and physical senses mostly: they “feel” their way through a piece. David Bowie spoke well on this subject:

“There, in the chords and melodies, is everything I want to say. The words just jolly it along. It's always been my way of expressing what for me is inexpressible by any other means.”

I've had the pleasure of gazing upon some beautiful works the past few years, but I often witness the creators having difficulties explaining the meaning. That certainly doesn't mean the depth isn't there. It means the words are evading the mouth, but they're flittering somewhere in the subconscious.
I now know I have a talent for capturing these elusive verbal fireflies. It made art history so fun! When I look at a piece, I experience the feelings of the characters as if I were them. (Appreciating art is a fundamentally empathic process, you see.) When I paint, I can break down my work flow into several different themes, combining intuitive, sensing, and theoretical. Being a painter, I have a hands-on approach in the creative process that helps me understand art theory and criticism through personal experience.
I believe that art history class and art interpretation shouldn't be a chore. Each artist was an emotional individual with a voice, just like you. When I look at an artist's portfolio, I synthesize the emotional information. Over time, I begin to understand the person's strengths, weaknesses, interests, etc. Some might demean my passion by calling it "hippie psychology," but I have worked on my intuitive skills and techniques for years already. I have found success in interpreting the artistic actions and tastes of people as reflections of their deeper character. I am not a self-proclaimed Magic Cleo, advertising a phony pay-per-call psychic hotline. I am simply reaping the multiple benefits of artistic and psychological analysis.
Whether you're an art buff or just browsing through this site, I believe that grasping these stories incites a domino effect. Art does not end when you finish looking at it. It lives on, in your actions. Again, Bowie's words:

"I wanted to prove the sustaining power of music."

If you become passionate about a work of art, it reflects you. It is not just a magic carpet that takes you on thrill rides. It becomes a mirror.

The Dark Subconscious: Adobe • Creative Suite 6

Box imagery for Adobe Creative Suite 6 Design Standard.

Designed by graphic design duo Non-Format. (Source: adobe.com)

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Box imagery for Adobe Photoshop CS6 Extended.

Designed by Alberto Seveso. (Source: adobe.com)

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Adobe Systems, the leading computer software giant, recently launched its Creative Suite 6 campaign. For those of you unfamiliar, Adobe's products – such as Photoshop, Illustrator, and Dreamweaver – are invaluable for art industry professionals working in digital media. The entire Adobe line includes powerful tools, not only in aesthetic merits, but pragmatic as well. The conceptual potential of these programs is immense.
Recently, I was flipping through a promotional pamphlet when my interest was piqued by the visual identity of Adobe's newest line, CS6. I was surprised! This is the first time I have noted a predominantly dark tone involved with Adobe.
The advertising imagery used for various suites in the family, from Design Standard to Photoshop Extended, exemplify futuristic, robotic, and even ominous elements. There are, of course, mildly brighter inclusions in the series, such as the art for Design & Web Premium. However, viewing the entire line altogether allows you to better notice the similarities between the images: disconcerting, mechanized personalities. Simply by association, the spastic attacks of color dispersed over the image below begin to connote holographic cuts and scars.

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Box imagery for Adobe Creative Suite 6 Design & Web Premium.

Designed by collaborative duo MI-ZO. (Source: adobe.com)

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Such dark imagery, although prevalent in the art world, seems to me an uncommon business decision. Adobe is an international superstar. I cannot recall even a few companies with such a wide demographic range that opt for ominous visual identities. What influenced Adobe?
Perhaps, this is a general artistic direction. A small example: some might make the case that shock art (à la Damien Hirst, Marco Evaristti) and the “strange, bizarre” aesthetic of darker fashion trends of the last fifty decades is influencing prominent contemporary pop musicians. But, for myself, the question does not end here. What is influencing professional organizations to promote this taste for the sinister? It is common knowledge that businesses rely on public needs and wants to craft their campaigns. Conventional ads (read: most) have positive personalities (even, on occasion, quirky, but not dark).
My opinion: public fears influence business decisions which, in turn, influence public taste. The declining economy contributes to sense of impending doom or failure. The murky waters of 2013 are expected to be even more difficult to wade through than the current economic downturn. Also, the alleged apocalypse of December 2012 predicted by the Mayan calender (even if many do not take it seriously) is discussed in the media. Regardless of this claim's validity, this fuels the public's fear of the unknown.
I believe that, although the general public may not be acutely aware of each changing tide, it still feels a foreboding pulse in its veins. These issues propagate subconscious desires for advertisements that reflect our inner sense of gloom.

After years of observing people's reactions to bizarre, inexplicable imagery, I have come to the conclusion that many feel a disturbing fascination. I have met those who loudly claim an aversion and equally many who pipe an obsession and keen understanding. My personal belief is that each human is both repulsed and drawn to the grotesque, but in varying measures. No one is untouched.
Maybe this is the sign of things to come: maybe “shadows” will seep into conventional advertising. Perhaps what one considers “edgy” now will, within the next ten to fifteen years, seem completely natural. That's how it's always been. Trends slowly seep into the amalgamation of cultural history. Or maybe not. Time always tells.
What are your thoughts?

Train • "Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me)"

NASA's Great Observatories examine the core of the Milky Way.

(Source: Smithsonian Institution)

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I thought it most fitting that my first discussion post revolve around my most passionate of passions, Train’s “Drops of Jupiter.” Absolutely no work of art cuts me closer in my heart. This song is the air I breathe, and it directs my life.
I first heard this song when I was 12 years old. Now, this may sound odd, but I swear I had something of a crush on it. It was so emotionally perfect for me that I found myself annoyed, actually. Kind of like when you’re a little kid and you really, really like someone… But goshdarnit, you don’t wanna admit it! So rather than being nice and doing sensible things like talking to them, you pull away from them. Or maybe that’s just me, haha. Regardless, that’s the way I reacted! I kept my fascination secret for so long because it was so intense.
Every lyric melted on my ears like golden drops of that beautiful alien dew, and sank into my heart.

I am an art critic who explains herself within the depths of analysis. To start with the general: I am entranced by the passion within the lyrics. Although the musical technique and originality may not be of the highest quality, I am enamored by the honesty and the freshness of the lyrical aspects and emotional direction. The song soars thanks to its bright, original and inventive storytelling.
Pat Monahan, lead singer of Train, claimed in an interview that the lyrics were inspired by his late mother's reappearance in a dream, but I feel that some of the most beautiful analysis comes from interpreting “Drops of Jupiter” as a love song.
Essentially, there are two characters within the plot of this piece. The male protagonist telling the story, and his fascination: the Drops of Jupiter girl. She is the true heroine here. She’s one-of-a-kind and extraordinary; nothing less than what I call the “crazy kind of beautiful.” She is has quirky, bizarre interests that seem at odds with her beauty, yet at the same time, define it. To give you some context, Nathan Rabin once termed the dim cousin of the Jupiter girl, the Manic Pixie Dream Girl. Comedian Mindy Kaling described the latter: “If she were from real life, people would think she was a homeless woman…, but she is essential to the male fantasy that even if a guy is boring, he deserves a woman who will find him fascinating and pull him out of himself by forcing him to go skinny-dipping in a stranger’s pool.”
But this Jupiter Woman is so much more than a Manic Pixie Dream Girl archetype. She has intelligent attitude, a goal-oriented life and self-awareness. She glows, with or without a romantic interest in her background. She was unsatisfied with the life she had when she knew this boy, so she traveled far and away for self-discovery. One of the main themes arching over the song is that of “internal reflection and identity.”
For your benefit, I have provided the lyrics to the song, broken down in parts for easier analysis:

Now that she's back in the atmosphere

With drops of Jupiter in her hair, hey, hey

She acts like summer and walks like rain

Reminds me that there's time to change, hey, hey

Since the return from her stay on the moon

She listens like spring and she talks like June, hey, hey
Tell me did you sail across the sun

Did you make it to the Milky Way to see the lights all faded

And that heaven is overrated
Tell me, did you fall from a shooting star

One without a permanent scar

And did you miss me while you were looking for yourself out there

She's returned from an extended vacation and it's implied she's grown much. Perhaps she was spontaneously enjoyable before, but now she's a sight for sore eyes and bored minds. "Listens like spring," "walks like rain"? What is this, somebody asks, a dime store romance novel? Frankly, I love the seemingly typical word choice Monahan uses to describe her movements. It allows the rest of the lyrics to provide the contrast between the Drops of Jupiter girl and her weaker cousin.
Then parade two of my favorite verses in all of musical history. I often receive the same confused facial expressions and questions: "How can heaven be overrated?" Conceptually, heaven is always presented as a perfect place, where there will be nothing to desire. People often spend their whole lives looking ahead for something good, and there's nothing wrong with that. Unfortunately, I see many miss the process: life, the present. This idea of appreciating the gift of life resounded with me as a child. Like I said, I heard this song and I haven't been the same since. I knew what I had to do...
Why don't we all take a page from the Jupiter Woman's book? Maybe we can't travel the cosmos physically, but we can travel a million miles free... Courtesy of our imaginative minds! This world is an imperfect place, but we can make so much of it. When we've allowed our outside world to mirror our insides, and vice versa, "potential perfection" becomes overrated because the beauty of our world is now.

Now that she's back from that soul vacation

Tracing her way through the constellation, hey, hey

She checks out Mozart while she does tae-bo

Reminds me that there's room to grow, hey, hey
Now that she's back in the atmosphere

I'm afraid that she might think of me as plain ol' Jane

Told a story about a man who is too afraid to fly so he never did land

More of the crazy descriptions... And a fable about taking chances. The speaker becomes intimidated now that she can see through him and his constant indecision. She reads him like a book because she's been there herself.

Tell me did the wind sweep you off your feet

Did you finally get the chance to dance along the light of day

And head back to the Milky Way

And tell me, did Venus blow your mind

Was it everything you wanted to find

And did you miss me while you were looking for yourself out there

I spent countless hours over the course of my life traipsing over some unknown moon, while the night fell away and the sun violently exposed its pristine body. I can assure you the journey's worth.
He still tenderly weighs Celestial Crystal hopes in his palms. He wants her to want him.

Can you imagine no love, pride, deep-fried chicken

Your best friend always sticking up for you even when I know you're wrong

Can you imagine no first dance, freeze-dried romance, five-hour phone conversation

The best soy latte that you ever had, and me

To many, the first line in this verse is the most enigmatic of all. Okay, picture this: an infinite field of small dots. One dot is the concept of beauty; another, joy in life. You begin to connect these concepts in your mind. The ideas start relating and developing and branching out and creating a thousand more dots... One day, long ago, the boy went to a fair, drank a soy latte and shared fried chicken with this mystical girl. They had conversations about pride, pain, love. He never forgot the taste of the chicken and the feeling in his heart when he heard her words. To this day, he's addicted to KFC. Quirky beauty.
It's that simple. If particular emotions or a work of art makes sense to you, and you have the evidence to explain your side, that's all that matters. All these "random" ideas only seem random because we can't find ourselves in the other person's mind! Emotions and ideas build on each other like an ever-expanding fractal.

Tell me did the wind sweep you off your feet

Did you finally get the chance to dance along the light of day

And head back toward the Milky Way
And are you lonely looking for yourself out there?
Tell me, did you sail across the sun

Did you make it to the Milky Way to see the lights all faded

And that heaven is overrated
Tell me, did you fall for a shooting star

One without a permanent scar

And did you miss me while you were looking for yourself out there

Did I ever cross your mind while you were finding yourself? Maybe, just maybe, I can give you something you couldn't discover on your own.
Her reaction to his advances will remain a mystery. Such is the beauty of this unrequited love.

You've got to face yourself like she did. Look into a mirror and stare hard at those weak parts. It terrorizes all of us. You enter a dark room in fear and horror... You can't tell up from inside out. And then you wait because you don't have a choice. Some hit this stage older, some younger. I was seventeen. This song healed me when my teeth ground in pain. One day, your eyes adjust to the light and you never look back.
"Drops of Jupiter" taught there is "time for change." Change is felt: slow and metered for the protagonist now, even pre-meditated. Rather than spontaneity bringing a man's emotions out of a nervous body, she is aware that slow, careful attention can help an emotional convalescent face the sunshine.
I leave you with Karl Lagerfeld’s quote: “There is no beauty without strangeness.”

An Introduction // Wisdom

Art is the life force that brings me to new days. For years, I have nursed an unrelenting passion for all that is both deep and beautiful. I have finally amassed a collection of thoughts, analyses, and dreams I can share with the world. I am not merely a visual artist, but a conceptual one as well. I hope my multiple perspectives on the art-making process help to open your mind and bring you some pleasure in your day. I intend to make the stories presented within art clearer for your imagination, so you too can be as lost within a book, a painting, or a piece of music.
It was the summer after my junior year of high school that my mind truly began to bloom like a flower. I was always introspective, but I suddenly became so self-aware, so cognizant of conceptual depths in every form of art: from visuals, to literature, to film and music – all of it! In reality, this blog has been years in the making…
Those of you who know me personally most likely have visited my Audio/Visual Inspiration album online, filled with my favorite artworks. That album is just the tip of the iceberg. Though I sometimes compose accompanying texts to the pieces I include, there is much more I wish to share. It saddens me to think that many people are afraid of, intimidated by or simply disinterested in art, making the mistake that it’s not for everyone. Art is a human language. Keep in mind, I am not by any means laying claim to the idea that every person needs to be knee-deep and obsessed! However, I have found that every individual I have had the pleasure of sharing stories with has found some passionate idea that makes him or her simply… glow. And this inspiration is an emotional pleasure that brings one to do more good for this world. I describe inspiration as “that feeling like you have an inflating balloon in your stomach”: that giddy, lightweight feeling that has always quelled my temper, making me smile and bestow an act of kindness on someone. Sometimes, it gives me an overwhelming feeling of love for this world. I’m thankful I can pass it on to you.

What does Wisdom in Doubt mean? For one, it means appreciating the place of self-doubt in our decision-making. I feel that our modern, fast-paced culture places too much emphasis on puffing yourself out in front of others, showing off your confidence in every situation and never revealing moments of weakness. There is no shame to be had in saying “I don’t know.” I’d rather a person admit a lack of knowledge than make a hasty decision without enough information.
Secondly, I reverse the phrase. What if we don’t immediately accept all “facts” others tout as obvious truths? It’s remarkably easy to intimidate by, not necessarily speaking facts, but speaking with overconfidence. You don’t even have to know the subject well, just act like you do! Now, my passion for art and its history hinges on the understanding that almost all sources of knowledge can be flawed. I develop my conceptual understanding over many years, and I acknowledge many sources before I reach my own conclusions.
And, lastly, I achieve wisdom that is truly my own. By attempting to think deeply before I act, I come across difficulties, but I achieve intense depth and understanding of the world around me. Rely on intuition, emotion and logical reasoning. None alone is sufficient, but an understanding of the proper combination for you leads to a newfound wisdom that works for you, and you alone…

This blog is my journey. Come with me! I have so much art to explore, to learn about and to teach about! I am an illustrator but I am also an art historian; a painter and a thinker. I've traveled millions of miles in my mind, and many more to come...