Have you ever just been inspired? Felt the need to create something beautiful and believed for a second that you were completely and totally capable? Yesterday at the EMP I walked into the Rock Poster Explosion exhibit and inhaled in wonder. The colors, the differences in styles from simplistic to busy, from modern to retro caused my eyes to grow and glaze over in happiness. The exhibit walls wound around, framed posters hung on tan walls, leading you unexpectedly into a room plastered in colors, shapes and designs. When I reached this inner tabernacle of art, my jaw dropped and I stood frozen, unable to move. Across from the postered wall was a projector slideshow of additional posters set to a random selection of music.
I was in paradise.
This was beauty. This was originality. This was talent. This was art. I realized that the artists of our time are not the traditional painters, though they still exist and still create amazing works. But digital art is truly an art form in itself now. Digital art can move someone to shock and awe, to tears, to all the extreme emotions that more traditional forms have always accomplished. As I stood there, admiring the work of Mike King, I found myself inspired and, for a slice of a moment, believing that I could achieve at least one work close to his quality.
Art inspires. Art moves you to believe in yourself. Art makes you believe you can do anything. But it can only do this if you allow it to. As soon as I cut myself down saying I could never be that good, the dream was shot, the mood brought down from a sort of ecstasy to a cheapened, though still intense, sense of wonderment.
I have never been so moved by art before. Perhaps it was the perfect melding of aesthetics and sound, bound together in subject matter. I don’t really know. But I do know that feeling inspired, admiring true art was one of the most incredible moments I’ve had in a long time.
Find something beautiful today. Allow your breath to be taken away. Allow yourself to be inspired. Allow yourself to dream. Allow yourself to believe that you can reach those dreams. And then reach them. Allow art to change your life.