Still Life....

Tonight I heard live music and it wasnt just that it was not recorded that made it live, it was the musicians that brought it to life. The things that engage me, always have life in them somehow and it is something I am becoming increasingly aware of and excited that I have recognised. It makes sense I guess, I have always been a visual person, but an intellectual too in some respects, but the senses seem to engage me more and more as I get older, the intellect is tiring me! When I see, hear or touch things that have life in them, that capture something of life, I feel engaged, connected and happy. Perhaps it is also living through quite a bit of extreme or unusual experiences, some exciting, some challenging but all of them brought me to life in some way, pricked at my sense of mere existense. Perhaps now, that these times have past I seek a more refined reminder of the beauty, wonder and unusual that is around us. There was a compulsory book to read at Art College, one for all the students, whatever their discipline, "Ways of Seeing" by John Berger, I can hardly remember the contents, but the title seemed a very sensible mantra for me to hold onto and I still reference it when I feel the need for "permission" to view things differently, look from a sideways angle or perhaps find myself attending music concerts where the people are "not like me" in age, lifestyle or background, yet still I allow myself to be there, to experience and to be open to whatever the experience brings.

This photograph brings to life a certain aspect of Brighton for me, a mood, a surreal quality and also the elemental aspect of the sea and the clouds. But it is almost a romantic view and not one I have actually seen that often and the photographer has "seen" it for me or at least they saw something worth seeing and here it is for me to see in my own way. Photography, music and even people can have the ability to express, communicate and capture in time unique things and I live for that. I also aspire to dare to do more of that myself, to find forms from which these moments of "real life" can emerge. I sound like I am back at Art school where I thought lots of the views and words were just pure arty farty nonsense, but like most things we come to them when we are ready and have to have had a direct need, experience or understanding for ourselves to make use of them, at least that is my experience. What was that quote about "Tell me and I will forget, Show me and I may remember, involve me and I will understand" - so perhaps it has taken me 16 years to fully get involved in the role of art and creativity in my life - phew! least my education has not been wasted!