About

For so long I struggled having the word ‘artist’ used to describe me. I always preferred the term ‘craftsman’ or ‘creative professional’. The term ‘artist’ brought with it so many negative connotations, at least in my mind. Something ‘airy fairy’ or ‘lar de dar’ or worse still, someone taking advantage of the socially stupid by stacking up some polystyrene crates, calling it modern art and then charging thousands of dollars for it (although part of me has respect for someone with the balls to actually pull this off…)

I struggled so much with the term that I was compelled to analyse the word and what it meant to be an artist. I think ‘art’ and therefore being an ‘artist’ can mean so many different things to different people. After my journey of discovery the definition, for me at least, became clear: Art is something created to manipulate the senses into causing an emotional response. Whether it be visual in the form of a painting or a photo, audible such as music, or palatable like a wonderfully prepared meal…

Therefore to be an artist, is to use the power of creation to turn the inspired imagination into a real-world form, for the purpose of creating an emotional response.

Armed with this definition, being an ‘artist’ is now something that I strive for and would be proud to be called, however it is in the hands of you, the audience, to determine if this is in fact the case. Do these images create an emotion or a feeling within as they were intended, or are they nothing more than an arrangement of pixels on a page.