Appearance is everything

Appearance is everything. It’s a tragedy, but it’s true. Art appreciation is firstly an act of looking, which leads to comprehending as your eyes start to talk to your brain, which consults with your life experience. The biggest insult anyone seems to level against art, is that there are collectors who just want to buy a piece that matches their couch. On that basis, it seems that the worst artists are those that are prepared to change the shade of their endeavours, in order to keep up with the times. The saddest part of my week was reading a psychological profile of people with low self-esteem, who make conscious colour choices in their lives. The main three are pretty obvious: grey as a disappearing act, beige to camouflage their feelings of uselessness, and black to say keep the hell out of my way. I know some galleries that specialise in beige and grey art, but mine is certainly not one of those. Van Gogh believed his paintings should console those broken by life, expressing deep emotion and spirituality, rather than just realistic representations of what he saw. Looking through his eyes, you can feel the fire in his soul. A fire that burned a turret of energy through him, leaving nothing behind but a reputation, for the rest of time.