The year was 1993. I had learned the art of etching and my teachers and peers had convinced me to let go of realism and explore expressionism. So I started etching some weird and wonderful things. All done with thin lines and enhanced with pen and ink. My free flowing thought connected to my etcher (can’t remember if this had a proper name) and produced a heap of symbolism, some of it with intentional meaning and some of it sub-conscious thought. Friends and peers asked me if they could score some of the acid that I was on (I wasn’t by the way) and teachers loved the originality of what I was creating. My prints were sent to Japan, came 2nd in a Royal Melbourne Show thingy, and got me some great grades, including my only perfect score.
Due to the (apparent) high level of symbolic detail in the prints, I was always asked what they meant; what I was thinking when I did them; and what I was trying to express. My answer changed depending on the day, and depending on who was asking the question, but the common thread was that they were just free flowing expression without intention.
I needed a better answer. So I started answering these questions in the following way… ‘It’s not really relevant what I was thinking when I did it; what I’m most interested in, is what does it mean to you when you look at it?’ Genius. I had just worked out how to legitimately answer this question with a question!
Very soon after this, I started my own art movement. My work didn’t fit into the expressionist, impressionist, cubist, or surreal schools, so I named my movement the ‘school of inspirationism’ and registered it as a business. As you all know, inspirationism now ranks as an equal with all other artistic schools that came before it and is also taught at all of the top schools and universities. I also have an Aston Martin made of pure platinum.
Inspirationism will live on at 100thgallery. Not because it is a movement unto itself, but because all art ‘inspires’. Art inspires change, it inspires emotion, it inspires thought, it inspires action, and at a minimum it inspires us to say that we can do better.
If you’re interested in having a look at some of the old ‘inspirationism’ stuff, please check out www.inspirationism.com. This website still exists as I never took it down and is still hosted on an old iPrimus dial up account… yes people, dial up.