What shows
how little
we know?
What can be is
oft far less than
what we expect.
What is now
has never been
what it was.
07/25/2024 j.g.l.
value beyond
Simplicity.
Is there emotion in austerity?
Humanity?
What do you see when attempting
to define your limited visibility?
Minimalism, abstract impressionism
or incorporeal thought.
Less is more, but is it enough?
Texture, tone, and value beyond
your current scene. If you take it to an
extreme, you will question
what it means.
What is really there?
What line do you cross?
Can simplicity be complicated, or
should it even be attempted?
07/23/2024 j.g.l.
Mondays are just young Fridays
Things will not go as planned. Intentions will be disrupted, even overlooked, in the aftermath of an unexpected reality.
Where you are headed will not be the place you end up, undoubtedly or undeniably. No matter how hard you attempt to make each gesture, brushstroke, promise, prayer, or pastime as perfect as you believe it can be, many times you will not arrive at a perceived destination. All too often your endeavors never hit the mark; at times your work may be better than expected (celebrate those moments), but everything (even your judgement) is subjective.
You are not limited to, or by, the colours in your paintbox or progression of your process.
Imagination is as limited or expansive as you want it to be. Give it time to blossom; in certain instances, you may even have to reel it in. This is all about possibilities, no matter which media, method, or style you are beholden to.
You owe your art (or life) nothing but your presence; the value comes from the practice, as rudimentary or spontaneous as it is or will become.
07/22/2024 j.g.l.
I'm like a pencil;
sometimes sharp,
most days
well-rounded,
other times
dull or
occasionally
broken.
Still I write.
j.g. lewis
is a writer/photographer in Toronto.
a reason for being
Posted on September 24, 2022 by j.g.lewis
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Each word, brush stroke, and
movement (physical or musical),
conveys a maze of emotions, a
moral or motive,
and
it does so with intention. Art
has a purpose, even in the most
conservative or mundane setting,
it brightens walls, pumps life
into the our superficially sterile
environment,
filling space
often reserved for mediocrity. Art,
any art, is a celebration, an occasion,
a happening or happenstance,
behind which rests a soul
struggling
to release frustration and fact.
The premise of art
is simple,
though in all its complexity
lives are lived and memories retold.
Sometimes the moments are
hardly even bold, but in
each nuance there is blood rushing,
and a voice dying (no, living)
to be heard.
Art, any art,
is an attempt
not to dream, and not to believe,
but to breathe.
Art is a reason for being.
To uncap your mind, and
open your eyes,
is to brush away the cobwebs, and
clear out the channels limiting
society’s authentic ways. To embrace,
or accept,
or even acknowledge effort,
is to allow a word to exist on
a weather-beaten page, an abstract
concept to play out on another plane,
a sound to survive yet another day,
and a dance to be
negotiated through an
inevitably cramped space.
Art, any
art,
is communication
if not
confrontation.
Address your demons, speak up
for those who choose not to,
push back
minds who see investment and value
as only monetary concerns.
Increase your worth. Don’t let art
become just another choice,
shape your work
in the rhythm of a voice.
©2016 j.g. lewis
