Guest Blog by Doriz Anderson

Over the years, at different milestones, I’ve often thought I had life figured out. A half-breath later however the inclination fell to the floor, and I had to start over. Each time thankfully, it was from an elevated place, on the shoulders of my mistakes and of those who have gone before me.

Crossing the threshold between my waking life and my unconscious, the part of our personalities that is always so secretive and well hidden, causes me to shudder, like when I accidentally fall asleep. You know the feeling. Your head jerks up almost imperceptibly and your eyes get big as the moon for just a split second as you try not to fall backwards into that swirling dream world.

When you fall in love with someone, you open yourself to vulnerability. 

When you fall in love with being an artist, vulnerability becomes your mantra.

Being an artist, a true artist means you have to reach deeper – some refer to it as connecting with your soul. I think of it a bit along those lines, but I’m more pragmatic. Yes, it is partially about connecting with my soul, but for me it’s more like connecting with the collective spirit – everyone’s soul, and it gives me goose bumps.

If you’re feeling it right now, and you get it, we just connected.

How does it happen?

Is it magic? Maybe, but no one has a definitive answer. The unknown is what makes life so interesting. For me though, my spirit is more tangible, and, like Carl Jung posits, my decisions are based on the experiences I’ve had and how I relate to the stimuli, whether it is sight, sound, touch, taste, smell, or intuition – my unconscious. What I feel is what I want you to feel when you see my paintings, but I know you can’t do it the same way because we haven’t had exactly the same lives and experiences. 

Everything we feel in our lives is relational. Allegorical mythology is partially about brushing shoulders in a wispy world where there are no words. Every now and then my work has been described in those terms, and it’s always humbling, especially when someone looks at my art and experiences a feeling they can’t describe – sometimes even moving them to being emotional.

I’m not elitist, not at all, but my art isn’t common or does it lend itself easily for casual viewing. It’s introspective, meditative. It’s not necessarily intellectual, but it does appeal to those who look deeper, or at least have an urge to look deeper – searching for answers when they don’t even know the question.

My vision is imbued in allegorical Feng Shui …
reflecting flowing energy, rhythm and grace.

I’m always intrigued when I can stand in a gallery and quietly watch someone look at one of my paintings for the first time. Occasionally, they just stand rooted, staring. My work is mostly abstract – so I wonder what they see. Surely it can’t be what I see, but sometimes, to my surprise they do, and they often feel compelled to tell me. In a time-warp way, we’re virtual  twins joined through thousands of years of relational experiences that forge our mythological and collective vision. It’s literally in our DNA. Sometimes too, art lovers simply like my play of chameleon-green against burnt-sienna. I’m good with it all.

If my vision completes your room, whether your dining area or the inner sanctum of your bedroom, or maybe a corporate boardroom or an institution’s public waiting space, that’s great. If it completes your personal and secret inner vision, wow, even better – everyone wins.

In a way, all art is performance art because of the emotion it elicits from the viewer, but one of the most common forms is cooking. Almost all of us do it every day, but not all of us treat it the same way as artist-chefs like Marilyn Pearson and Vikram Vij. Both of these incredible chefs create inspiring art pieces meant to be consumed not only with our mouths, but also slowly breathed in, and feasted upon with our eyes. Gastronomy, which literally means the “art and science of good eating” is so common we often take it for granted, but it is art, and a very intimate and sensual experience.

The IAD has joined forces this year with a group interested in furthering the arts, performance art specifically – Picasso meets Van Gogh in the world of living art.

Van Gogh Vodka and CHILLED magazine are sponsoring a contest for mixologists to create an inspiring cocktail, and when I saw some of the incredible drinks these avant-garde performance artists entered into the Art of the Cocktail contest it inspired me to create something too – the painting above!

I asked my family and friends what to call it
and they unanimously agreed, “Join the Party”

If you’d like to see my “Picasso meets Van Gogh” inspiration, it’s hanging in an exquisite new gallery in White Rock. Follow my blog to find out where and when … cin cin!

Celebrate art and the spirit of life!

Thoughtfully,
Doriz

Abstract Artist & Guest Blogger