Chaos is the Wisdom: June 2009

What is art?

There are those who think of art as something to decorate the walls (as with certain paintings), or to kill time (as with certain works of literature), or in general to make one's world more lovely. I think otherwise. Art is not by definition pretty, or decorative, or even nice. Art is, by my definition, a dynamic process the result of which is life becomes more meaningful. Art does more than "be created." Art itself creates. Art begins with the artist, who puts the words on paper, or the paint on canvas, or the music and thoughts into a song--whatever the medium may be--but that is not what makes it art. If one walks past a work of art, or hears the sounds of a work of art, the creation process continues. The observer of true art cannot simply smile and move on. With true art, the observer must stop, and think, and react, and change. Art creates a new experience, a new understanding, a new expanded universe. A society that restricts or censors its art is restricting its own growth, its own existence. A person who limits his/her exposure to art is stifling the very nature of that person's life, the process of growing and learning and discovering. Life holds secrets that are never learned by the cautious, by the afraid. By involving oneself in the dynamic process of experiencing true art, one expands reality, one makes the world a bigger and much more meaningful place. Life is art. Art is life. It's the complexity of life (and art) that makes it worth living.
--- Sammy.......3/26/2009

Art by Saml to be publicly displayed...finally!

In March, 2010, the artist will display many of his paintings at the Paseo Art Space gallery, 3022 Paseo, north end of Paseo district in Oklahoma City, (that's near NW 30th Street and Walker), in a solo exhibition tentatively titled "The Evolution of an Artist." At the current time, none of his art has been shown publicly in the US. There are a few of his paintings--small, dust-and-grime-covered, nearly forgotten, from a few years back--hanging at the open-air beachside El Restaurante Malecón in Puerto Vallarta, (it's the tree-encompassed edifice in the painting below), and one nice painting of his strange Pelícanos once hung in the PC Cafe on Olas Altas in Puerto Vallarta--until it was stolen. The show at Paseo Art Space will last the month of March, with a public opening set for the evening of Friday, March 5, 2010.

My Artist Statement for Paseo Show, March 5, 2010

The Evolution of an Artist – A show by the artist Saml

--Sam Botkin

I am an artist who has until this point in life (March 2010) kept my creativity to myself. I taught high school math for a career, during which time I produced art in private to maintain my equilibrium. Since my college days, I made decisions regarding my life that allowed me time and feedom to be creative. It took me 35 years to understand those needs, to realize that in fact I am an artist, a person who must go beyond the limits imposed by reality. I love producing musical art; I have written thousands of pages of novel manuscripts; and I have spread gallons of paint on smooth surfaces, just to see what might result. When I retired from teaching in 2008, I decided to take my paintings public. Sixteen months after that decision, here is my show.

My official creative training is minimal. I did take a couple of art classes at Oberlin College, graduating in 1970, but that effort was dampened by the turmoil of the sixties and the Vietnam war. (I did develop my signature during that period...the artist Saml.) Otherwise, I have trained myself. I was greatly influenced by a humanities course I took in college, where I researched a report on the expressionist art movement of the early 20th century, from Klee and Kandinsky to Picasso. Klee was my favorite, but I was proudest of Picasso. He was a magician with his art, and it was his originality as much as his art that I most admired.

My art itself has evolved greatly over the years. For many years, I painted when the mood struck me, painting images from my dreams, or my imagination, using acrylics beginning in my college years, then switching to oils once my methods matured. Ten years ago, I decided to take my painting more seriously, and for a painfully long time, I worked at "getting better" by reproducing lovely depictions of real life, lots of beach and park and street scenes of the people of Mexico. More recently, I liberated myself from those social demands, and I have now returned to producing images from my fantasies. I have learned a great deal by watching young people create their art: i.e. my seven-year-old niece, a girlfriend’s five-year-old daughter; and in the past few years I have worked hard to develope my innate desire to paint like a child.

I was inspired in this past decade by the art and artists in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, specifically José Marca and Rogelio Dias, two artists who paint confidently with uninhibited expression. I became friends with Marca and gained from him an understanding of the patience required to produce an intended result on canvas. I learned through an intermediary (the gallery owner who displays his art) of the turmoil lived by Dias and expressed in his art, and I found a kinship there that pushed me to exploit my own inner chaos.

It does not bother me if my art sometimes offends. For those who are offended, just shake your head and move along.

Monday, June 29, 2009

Life can be interesting....

Sometimes it's just at a coffee shop, a table of young ladies, an interesting conversation. A very interesting conservation. Art needs inspiration. Talking parrots. Cockroaches. Beautiful eyes. Dreams.

Friday, June 26, 2009

Damn it's hot!

It's so hot, I've forsaken my barn for the air conditioning of my living room. (Still get a little outdoor work done in the mornings, but before noon, it's back indoors.) Not much painting getting done. Besides, the heat is melting my oil paints to the point I can hardly get any texture. Just oily oozy stuff. 100 degrees in June, should be unheard of! Gone on like that all week. No telling what this summer has in store, but I'm not excited. I do get to spend a little time with my literary efforts at least. Kiss My Vulgar Lips indeed!

SCROLL DOWN FOR MOST RECENT ART

CLICK THIS LINK to view My Art in PUERTO VALLARTA

CLICK this link to see paintings of Puerto Vallarta, painted in USA.

Links to art pages

Shamliri's Swan

The Moon, The Swan, And Magdalena

CLICK these links to view MORE ART

Before The Beginning

Camila Vs The Ant

Beneath The Full Moon

Yo y Mi Gato

Mama Iguana

The Girl With The Blue Curl

Man-eating Iguana, Playa Los Muertos

Un Día en Playa Los Muertos

El Plato Vacío (The Empty Plate)

Spilt Milk

Artist, After The Fall

Morley's Banjolele

I Dreamed I Saw A Crowd Of People

Tumbling Through

Living, Playa Los Muertos

Hot Day in Costa Rica

Honeymooners

Troubled Dreams

Artist and Model

Last Month's Art Show

ART WAS DISPLAYED DURING NOVEMBER 2010

VIEW PHOTOS FROM OCTOBER 2010 ART SHOW AT PASEO STUDIO!

PHOTOS FROM SEPT 3, 2010, ART SHOW PARTY

PHOTOS from August 2010 ART SHOW opening

Flow

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Farm Girls At Night

Breanna and her Big Spotted Dog

Tommy and Two Tanangers

Rock Climbing Beneath a Lizard Sky

Father and Son

La Rubia

SOON TO COME: VIEW PNTGS 4 SALE (NOT Ready yet)

ART FOR SALE

Paseo Art Space Show was held in March 2010.

Sandy's Magic Dog

Illegal Immigrants In Love

Ms Omo

Twee Hawn