Well, fact is I never studied art history and, boy oh boy, how I wish I had. For me school was all about music and drama. (And lacrosse and, ah, girls.) I've always enjoyed wandering museums but didn't really know what I was looking at until I left music in 2000 and got into antique furniture restoration. I was taking classes in antiques connoisseurship and we'd go to the Met, look at furniture, then go look at paintings from the same time period. I found that I wanted to see more and more paintings and have, in the past dozen years given myself sort of an art history education...but it was always pretty much pre 1850ish. Then I went to the Guggenheim to see the James Turrell and, in the process started really looking at the Modernist paintings...and REALLY looking at the building. That started opening up doors in my head and going back to see the Italian Futurists REALLY cracked my noggin open. The off to see the Cubists at the Met. But preparing my lecture on the Japanese influences on European art last fall was what really got the ball rolling to start making more contemporary pieces. Now I am lost in the world of art and blissfully so. I am leaving a lot out but basically, once this B'more show is over and I have gotten myself established with the galleries on the radar, I plan to go to the Art Students League and become a fine artist.....so I'm doing it all backward and beginning at 62. But, hey, I'm being collected and have pieces in some pretty major collections so better late than never and in whatever order the Universe throws it at me.
Aren't you glad you asked?
I'm glad you found Hokusai....he's one of my main men.
Cheers,
Michael
