I just looked in my deviations folder in my message box and was hit with a sort of amazement. Two of my favorite people are becoming the most incredible artists I know. It has been an honor to see their work evolve. I've struggled for years with the concept of originality, for most of my work it seems almost like a construction. Perhaps it is only because I persist in my creative whims so rarely that whenever I do it does not seem natural. My relationship to the work that sits in my gallery could be stranger than most. It's almost like I can't really identify with it as mine. I take a great picture of a pretty flower, get lots of popularity, but yet I honestly feel like it shows absolutely no proof of any talent on my part. I wouldn't feel like I'm lying if I said this, and I would actually be glad to tell you all that I think every picture in my gallery was a fluke.

This is where I am at my current point in my creative process with myself. With all of this in mind, I hope it is now a little bit clearer that when I say I see absolute originality in an artist, I'm not being conceited. I have no doubt now, that *ShrunkenAngel and =Gruye are destined to become very important artists in our generation.

I see amazing, incredible, and unique works of art every day on this site, but as I know these to people, this feels more personal.

Secondly, since I'm already on the tack of giving a disclaimer, I also feel the need to say that the art being discovered and created by these to great minds is not, in fact, all that appealing to kids age 13-18, unfortunately. Why? I don't know. I don't really care, to be honest. But I think it's both interesting and important to note this. Because it is important for me to keep in mind on my search for some meaning to art, both in general and for me personally. Every time I've stopped doing photography it was because I had convinced myself that I was only doing it to take "pretty pictures" for people to ogle at and hopefully give me money. And perhaps that is why I find these two so fascinating. They are compelled without hesitation to continue and improve in ways I simply don't conceive.

I hope you too will see something as interesting and unusual as what I see in these two artists. And I assure you, it has nothing to do with their page-view count, or how many favorites their works get. With them it really has gotten so, so much deeper.

Enjoy.


*ShrunkenAngel


=Gruye


And we will discuss the nature of beauty in art another day.