My Cognizance

I discovered the artist Banksy a little over a year ago after a very close friend of mine had attempted suicide. Following the accident, my brother, who was/(is) his best friend, asked me to paint him something in the style of Banksy to show the pain that a person can feel inside without ever showing to anyone. At the time we were all in a lot of pain; Sam may have lost his legs, but we all lost part of ourselves that February. When I researched Banksy, I found his work beautiful. It questions the state of our society and begs viewers to look inward and outward at the worlds dark and twisted side. Often, Banksy’s work is incredibly simple yet extremely successful in the way it isolates the internal doom most people secretly harbor.

After thorough research and weeks of thought, I came up with an idea for the piece that my brother requested from me. I was going to draw a man walking down a busy street with the words “I’m fine” coming out of his mouth, yet when you look at the words in a mirrored reflection upside down you can see that it says “save me.” I had found this to be a gorgeous idea, it was moving and told the truth about the reality we live in. However, I struggled with the idea of such a sad work. This is when I realized that this is not the type of art I wanted to create.

For me, art is meant to move you, but I want it to leave you feeling full inside—hopeful, full of wonder, and most importantly, fascinated by the idea of adventure. Banksy’s style of art is important, but his dark perspective is the opposite of how I want my art to leave a viewer. I do not ever want my work to leave someone feeling a lost and alone; and it is this philosophy that drives my work.

I feel it is my duty as an artist to find the beauty in the world around me and translate that into a work of art. I have found that there is plenty of pain in the world but it is greatly outweighed by all of the good. It is important that art reminds people that the world is truly wonderful. Most importantly, it is my hope that the art I create influences viewers to pay closer attention to what brings them joy in life. I am not sure I have found the technique or style to fit my inner vision yet but I know that I will never stop experimenting.