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DaveWhitlam — Momentary Monument
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Published: 2008-01-28 12:23:44 +0000 UTC; Views: 1392; Favourites: 41; Downloads: 0
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i've been a fan of your artwork for a long time. your pieces are really thought provoking. i'd like to ask (if its ok with you of course), what inspires your art?
...i know that it can be a number of different things, but what would you say is your major inspiration?
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That's a difficult question! I don't wait for inspiration to strike me before I sit down and work, but rather I start to work and inspiration comes to me. I wonder myself sometimes where the images come from, and why they seem to work as well as they do, as they are never thought out in advance. Ultimately, I have come to believe in the subconscious as source of inspiration and wisdom - I place my faith in the fact that below the conscious mind there is a wealth of insight and creativity, something that is far greater and more complex than what we regard as the 'self'. I think everyone has this inner reservoir of dreams, myths and visions, but most people haven't got the ability to plumb it's depths and bring something back to the surface with them. To express these inner workings of the mind requires a distinct skill, not merely in terms of entering into the underworld, but also in articulating it in a manner that people can connect with. Having studied Frued, Jung, the Surrealists, Blake and others, I have aquired an understanding of this visionary process, and regard myself as belonging to that same tradition of artists and writers, whose work comes from the very core of the psyche, rather than it's surface.
Having said all that, I'm writing this sat at work, in an office in central Manchester, where I currently spend most of my week earning a living. Perhaps my greatest inspiration is the thought that one day I might earn enough from my art to give up the rat-race once and for all, and live in the realm of the imagination, where I'm surrounded by grand poetic visions, rather than the din of telephones and fax machines - I hate monday mornings!
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weird thing, cos thats the answer i imagined you'd give. and i understand the power of the subconcious. i would say the same thing happens to me. i usually have no predetermined compostion or subject when i start drawing either, but the end product is a composition which seems to come random to me (and usually it does make sense to me once i have the finished drawing and take a good look at it)...strange thing is i too am captivated by carl jung's theories about the anima/animus and shadow and i deeply love william blakes artwork and poetry...plus salvador dali! and from the recent artists Alex Grey is my biggest inspiration.
I asked the question because your drawings/paintings are like those symbols that i frequently come across in my subconcious. and sometimes i can really connect with your drawings.
And another thing we share is the dream of wanting to exit the rat race and just being visionary artists exploring the psyche. but i'm not as adept as you are. you are truly inspirining.
godspeed...
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Its amazing how you can get your digital works to look so similar to the traditional
I like them all though, the figures in this are awesome. No idea what it means though.
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