Priya Rama - I experience. Then, I paint. My art, like my life, revolves around my chronic migraines. Everything that I do follows the ebb, flow and crest of wellness. When a migraine comes on, even with my eyes closed, I "see" things. Colors and shapes flood my mind in fluid poetry. These mystical images recede, shift, radiate and pulse, becoming more vibrant and vivid with every capture! Frequently, I paint through a migraine, trying to quickly tap into what I see. When I can’t, I’m able to recall the imagery at a later time, and commit that to canvas. My work is a constant search to best represent the three and often four dimensional images of my mind onto a two dimensional, flat surface. Each piece I create evolves from a meditative and introspective process, wherein I become one with my art: It is being aware in that moment, being mindful, acknowledging the pain and chaos, and losing myself to the visual symphony that unfolds. Some notes are peaceful while others discordant. I've trained myself to paint through the pain and discomfort: my breathing slows down, my jaw unclenches, and my body slowly begins to relax. Often, completing a painting acts as a release, and reminds me that my mind can do more than just process pain: It can transform pain into beauty.
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Steven Fisher - I have been creating my whole. Always searching for any means necessary to create and express myself. I have BFA and MFA (advertising) and have been on this journey for roughly 40 years. During this journey I’ve been a graphic designer/print manager, a Creative Art Director, a saucier/cook in high end restaurants in Chicago, Columbus and Ireland, a Sr. Art Director to starting my design/art entity: Cre8ive-Differences, LLC. The path to where I am now has been a wild one but without those experiences, who’s to say what I would be making today. In 2018, I consciously decided to commit the majority of my time and energies to working on and promoting my artwork (design is still present but on a smaller scale). I don’t really subscribe to any one style or look in my work. All mediums are opportunities. All styles are opportunities. Sometimes a particular series stays around longer simply because the conversation isn’t over yet. This current series of paintings is still a very interesting conversation to me. They may not seem like statement paintings and they may just be pretty colors to some (and that’s OK), but to me, each one of them is a statement—a quest—a need—an antidote. I need to make things like this for hope, to be a light in the dark and evidence that something greater is at work in the universe. They can also be places where we might allow ourselves to be ‘in the moment’ or get lost in, to be a beacon, a respite and a refuge of civility, freedom and individuality. Pretty colors? Sure. Flowers? Sure. Butterflies? Sure. Just paint? Sure. A light needed to get through darkness? Definitely. I hope you find what you want in them too.
To View Steven’s Work Click: Here
