Passion in art, do you know it? Do you long to melt into the colors of red and dance with the latest voice expressing desire? Does it penetrate your very being, till you feel you can barely breathe? Do you feel restless and think that you will never 'get there'?
I know what passion means to me, and I find the very word abused and over used.
I decided to do a search on passion art, passion images. I wanted to see what passion means to other artists, maybe fulfill my need for going through a gallery. I typed said text in on google and saw image after image of nothingness. I became bored after the 5th page of square after square, of work that presented what others had decided to label as passion.
So what is it?
Why does it elude so many?
Maybe you do in fact feel blood rushing to your head at the sight of a still life. I can only express the fact that I have been searching for passion for art, all my life, it is the very core of my work, yet I know, I will never obtain its secrets.
I guess I am on a soapbox for passion.
The dictionary describes passion as a strong and barely controllable emotion; a state or outburst of emotion; intense sexual love; intense desire or enthusiasm for something.
More over used words: intense; emotion; desire.
Somehow I just don't think those emotions can be stirred up, within anyone's being, while viewing a bowl of fruit.
There is a real dichotomy with art. Some want to understand it; ask it to give them more; enlighten them towards some electric realization of cosmic fortitude.
And some people seek it out to place above their couch, match its color; stay in its place never asking anything but calmness ... with no questions asked.
Of course there are some questions people are prompted to ask if they are in love with those little cottages, light coming from the windows with a path leading to peaceful spots of a tired mind. People ask themselves, (and I am supposing here) "What do you think the people in that little cottage are having for dinner? Or is it a family like mine or wish I had?" Memories and nostalgia are stirred in some people, I am guessing. Is that passion though? I concede, maybe to some, but not one single bit to me.
I met a man who told me that he only likes poems that rhyme. Humm, I thought... limericks then? How mind bending. I am suggesting that if you feel that way, that a poem is not a poem unless it rhymes, or a painting is only blessed if it matches your couch, that you challenge your mind to hope for more.
Every single painting or sculpture, every poem or story I create, makes me feel uncomfortable and discontent. If you are an artist, or a lover of art, I believe you want that. It is passion reaching back at you, taunting you, to feel heights you have not yet reached.
While sex can and often does include passion, or at least we hope it does! I am not writing about sex per say, I am suggesting that passion, in its rawest form, should not be misconstrued as something that does not elude to something more. It should compete with ideas already set in your mind and cause you a sense of abandonment of your own being, if not for a moment.
Passion is emotion that is ready to explode and there is no resting place in sight. I want that! I want every stroke on canvas to exhume that. If you are a love of art or an artist of any genre at all, you should want that too. To find a resting place in art is to find boredom in the end. Can you soften your mood with art? Can you mend your own wounds while painting a vase of flowers? Of course you can. But, seek out passion, know it, embrace that elusive treasure. It will not cause you to feel 'comfortable', no, but it shouldn't, that is not its definition. Will you ever get there? I would answer no as well.. it is just barely out of reach, so keep reaching!
by Kathy Ostman-Magnusen
copyright 2008
Author Info:
ABOUT Kathy Ostman-Magnusen
I paint and sculpt female fantasy art and map fairy tale adventures. I dream of beautiful women on canvas and art of exotic women.
I have illustrated for Hay House Inc.,"Women Who Do Too Much" CARDS, taken from Anne Wilson Schaef's book. I also illustrated for Neil Davidson, who was considered for the Pulitzer Prize in feature writing, and several other publications. My paintings are collected worldwide.
Giclee canvas art work, greeting cards and posters are available for sale on my website:
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I am Represented by:
Monkdogz Urban Art, Inc., 547 West 27th Street, 5th floor, New York, NY 10001
ORIGINAL ART may be purchased through Monkdogz
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