In the heart of Columbus lives a zesty restaurant and bar called El Camino Inn. With it’s bright colored lights on the widow sills and curling aluminum lettering on the walls, hipster meets class. Last night, I was delighted to be a part of their art exhibition with my piece, Silent Anger.
There are many stories I could tell about this show. I met the exhibition’s coordinator by bumping into him at the art muesum while I was working on a painting. Or I could tell of the one man, more than twice my age, who tried to make his move on me, and was clearly intoxicated at the show. There were so many amazing artists and new friends I met last night, who I hope to stay in contact with. The most memorable part of the night was an kind eyed older man, Markus.
His tan fedora tilted on his head, Markus leaned back in the booth.
“May I sit down?” I ask, wanting to learn about his painting in at the front of the exhibition.
With his wide banana smile, he nods as I pull up a chair.
“How long have you been an artist?” He asks me. I talk about my story, so does he, and we soon start to discuss how Silent Anger evolved into the piece it is today.
“...There are many phases in anger. Sometimes society pushes us to believe it’s only the silent anger that deserves valiadation, but all the layers of anger, every feeling a person has, is valid. I love to represent feelings in abstract ways, because in the essence they are not concret.” I reply.
“What I see in your painting, it’s a snap shot of that moment, the moment you were facing at the time. That moment is memorialized in that picture. Feelings seem to always change. We fall into runiminating on the past, and worrying about the future, when we really should just stay right here, in the moment. That’s what I see in your picture.” Markus said as his eyes shift from the painting to me
The relationship is not only between the artist and the piece, but also between the viewer and the piece. Everyone has different interpretations on particularly abstract pieces, because we all come into the room with varying life stories. I believe it is both the painter who has made the piece and the viewer who looks at the piece that collaborate to make a painting more than just a couple of red and black strokes. The piece, the artist, and the viewer all work together to make a piece art.