What is art? How does one explain what art means to them?

To me, art is about beauty, terror, horror, perception and reality. I have been influenced by art since a very young age when I was handed my first crayon. Like any child, art to them and me was just about making colour sing. It was about self expression and wonder. I evolved very quickly into this realm of creation. My mother encouraged me in many ways to grow, but more so with my creative outbursts. She took me to life drawing classes at 7, painting lessons, community art groups... and I watched her with wonder and awe at her ability to make a simple piece of paper and some coloured pencils come alive. Though her drawing was somewhat cartoonish and comical, I soon learned to make what talent I had my own.

Art should move you, it should make you emote some kind of reaction; be it good, bad, happy or sad. It should inspire you, it should make you angry, it should stab at your very core, it should make you turn within and without. It should also allow you to be still and immerse your being into the piece you are viewing. Art to me has been a very important part of my life in that I can appreciate all kinds of art, its creator, its end product.

Art is not necessarily the end product itself, but the journey in which we undertake to reach the said finished product. It should bring about a self awareness to one's own world and how we as artists see it.

Art is not about any one person's persona or their psyche, but an outlet for those things. Just because one paints a vivid horrific picture doesn't make them a mass-murderer. You only have to look at what Geoffrey Dahma painted to see that, he painted predominantly clowns and dressed like one.... Charles Manson sang hippy love songs and got refused a record label, look what he ended up doing.... Adolph Hitler got booted out of art school as his architecture drawings were said to be quite average... History has only got to see what happened when he got pissed off! Too many people are shot down in flames by other people who deem themselves self appointed critics.

Art is not right or wrong. There are no real boundaries in art, nor should it be judged by those who have no real idea of what it is. No one says you have to like every piece of art you see, but the viewer should be able to appreciate the story behind it. If they don't, then they are lacking any kind of free thinking and are trapped by their own ignorance.

Personally, I love art, in all forms of fabrication. I can appreciate everything I see, even though I may not like what I see, I can still appreciate the time involved, the talent behind it and the story it is telling. Even those artists that are doing something purely for shock value have a story to tell, they just haven't touched their own psyche to emote what they potentially have in store for us all.

Art is in the eye of the beholder. Whether its good or bad, makes no difference, it should evoke a feeling, an emotion.

I do what I do because I enjoy it. It is a cathartic release for me and it keeps me happy. Even I don't like what I come up with some times, but for that moment in time, it was what was in my soul.

I have learned a long time ago not to listen to people who put down what I do without offering any kind or solution or alternative suggestion, their opinions are like the bottom of my boot that I have just trodden in shit and have wiped off on the lawn. Though it may stick initially, it wipes off and is gone without a trace in a moment. There is a saying I think that is very fitting for those kinds of people:

"Those that can, do. Those that cant, bitch."

Back in 2000 I came up with a phrase that has become my inner voice when I look at art:

"Upon the fluttering of an Angel's wing does the pin drop so boisterous."

What does that mean? To me it means that the whole world falls into silence when I'm in front of art, that there is nothing else in my life in that instant that matters or holds any sway. Art moves me and for that I am truly thankful.