Slopes or Gallery?
What does this toboggan say to you? Weekend at the Sierra Nevada? Wrong. Prado Museum in Madrid would be more like it. This is Modern 20th Century Art, “The Sled,” by German Artist, Joseph Beuys 1969. It’s on display at the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan.
The creative mind is a wonderful thing, even if sometimes verges toward the insane. Sled? Art? Well, some people like it enough to put it in one of the world’s finest galleries. Personally, I want to turn it upside down and polish the runners, otherwise it will leave rusty tracks in the snow. Not cool.
At primary school in Market Harborough, Leicestershire, where I grew up, there was a boy called Barry Faulkner. He was brilliant at drawing and model making and went on to become an architect. What’s more, he always knew that was what he wanted to do. Was he born with this talent, did he follow in his father’s footsteps, or did he just enjoy it and that inspired him to learn more?
The most famous quote by Joseph Beuys is that “Everyone is an artist.” Vincent van Gogh said that “Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together.” Peter O’Toole waxed eloquently that “Not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere.” And lastly, Pablo Picasso taught us that “The chief enemy of creativity, is good sense.”
Great sayings by successful people that hint at what was driving them and maybe Barry Faulkner.
What started you off on your path to creativity? What keeps you on it? Can you wrap that up in a sentence?
I couldn’t draw a sausage. Neither could I make things. Best not to ask about putting up a soap dish on Christmas Eve and urgently needing a plumber. But I could dream. My imagination ran riot and still does. All I learned as I grew older is how to put that into words. Now I’m obsessed with it and despite the wonderful climate and attractions of my adopted home of Nerja, I’m still glued to this keyboard. At least it keeps me out of the pub.
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Darkness in Malaga is the first book in the Andalusian Mystery Series