"EXPERIENCING" Art for the Soul

It is becoming clear that post-pandemically - we are RE-CREATING MANY of our primary factors of life. This includes new ways of living, learning, working and experiencing - together and remotely.

I'm also recognizing a resurgence of the first modern day Renaissance in over 400 years and, to celebrate the upcoming movement, I will be writing about how to elevate yourself with art and the essential understanding of experiencing it for the soul's benefit. This article covers the "experiential" actions of art - not creating art, which will be covered in many other articles.

The EXPERIENTIAL benefits of art can include:

• Soulful Focus

• Balance

• Motivation

• Creativity

• Empowerment

• Self-discovery and discipline

and MANY MORE

A LITTLE ABOUT MY EXPERIENCE with ART

Since my first gallery showing at the age of 17, I have painted for many private and corporate collections including celebrities, pro-sports figures, corporations and fortune 500 CEOs. The one thing that has remained obvious to me as an artist is this:

"Art is an ACTION, more so than a THING."

It is now more important than ever that those wanting to learn have access to the educational means about one of the soul's truest forms of expression. Perhaps even try it for one's self?

BASICALLY...

Art is a form of "perception," requiring basic motor skills to take it in, and the capacity to compartmentalize what is captured with sight. What you do with it beyond that is your own personal choice and experience.

Many humans have the misconception that the quality of a painting relies heavily on "how realistic" an artwork appears to the viewer. This may have been somewhat accurate in the days before photography was born, simply due to the role painting played to depict and preserve reality for the sake of historic accuracy.

Now that photochemical and developing rooms have given way to the modern digital means of reproducing images - we may now move about the creative realms freely and with no judgement.

This freedom in the creative realm gave way to modern expressions of art including Impressionism, Cubism, Surrealism, Abstract and anything else that could be given a label. What you may not realize is that even prior to fathering their new-found styles, Pablo Picasso and many of the famous painters that ushered in modern movements or styles were actually very skilled draftsman and painters in the traditional sense. Breaking free from tradition led the way to richer self-expression for them and future artists to follow.

EVOLUTION of Soulful Expression

Can you imagine having the strength to be the first artist of your time to publicly reveal something so brave, different and new that your entire career could thrive or crumble under its acceptance?

This is what each father of style such as Manet, the father of Impressionism, Picasso, the inventor of Cubism and many others stood for, in revealing their innovative creations.

Let this be the strength and motivational spirit of YOUR JOURNEY INTO ART.

I am personally working on a new series of paintings for an upcoming gallery showing, and have collected educational thoughts and teachings to parallel and enhance these works, while offering education for those desiring to learn a little about one of the greatest expressions of our soul -through art.

LEARNING TO "THINK" ABOUT ART for the benefit of the soul

At any given time, we are never truly experiencing or “perceiving” only one pure emotion, thought-form, memory or idea. We are ALWAYS experiencing several - if not thousands of impressions through our soul at any given second. Art is not absent from this time - space actively changing relativity.

Our perception is the product of many influencing factors that could include environment, past experiences, the lighting in the room, people around us and a plethora of other infinite factors.

For instance, glancing upon a painting for the first time will incorporate a combination of sight, sound and smell, combined with subconscious observations about our location as the first impression is made upon the mind and soul.

Initial reactions are made based on each individual’s feelings, previous circumstances and life lessons that allow us to “feel” our own unique expression of that painting. Even further now that a particular art piece has been added to the expression of our memory and soul - it will never be felt by the viewer in the same way, but now as a skewed version of the art piece. This grants a continued “new life” to art as it remains there, unmoving yet subjective to its viewer.

PERCIEVING COLOR

In the same way, the color, white relies on the atmospheric tones around it to display its perceived hue. Warmer lighting around the painting at viewing moment could suggest an orange or yellow hue while natural lighting can suggest a bluer hue.

Regardless, white is never actually absent of color - which was pointed out by famous painter, Norman Rockwell.

Therefore, the action of “experiencing art” is far more complex than many consider to be.

EXPERENCING ARTISTIC “EXPRESSION”

Though I have gained the skillset to depict the reality of an image realistically using pigment on canvas or graphite to paper, realism is NOT my personal goal for my art or viewers.

My intention for are to evoke “subjective” thoughts for themselves, feelings and emotions of their own life - to then apply that moment to their unique and personalized space and time experience. You may first recognize and acknowledge what may be the artist's goal and feelings about the subject, color and compositions - but then make it your experience. This is where the soulful element takes flight.

HERE'S A CHALLENGE TO TRY YOURSELF....

1) View an artwork.

2) Consider how the compositions, color, texture and movement allow you to feel.

3) Apply YOUR EXPERIENCE. Listen to your subconscious mind - a little like thoughts in stereo around you. What are they? Feelings of creativity or relaxation? Perhaps inspiration or colors that trigger inspiration from something seen before in life. Are there parts of the art that feel like it relates to you? Or perhaps repels you?

These combined actions - or somewhere in between - comprise experiencing my work as intended, but the SOULFUL JOURNEY of art is controlled by you.

ABOUT CHRISTIAN SLY

Creating masterful art in Oils, Watercolor, Graphite, Mixed Media, Digital Video, Fine Photography, Environmental Graphics, American born Christian Sly shares the wall with historic artists such as Dali, Mattisse, Calder and Picasso - having his first private showing at the age of 18.

Collected by both Corporate and Private Collections including Sports Entertainment Celebrities and CEOs of Fortune 500 Companies for over 35 years - Christian Sly has been a "Master Painter" and professional artist since the young age of 16.

Sly has enjoyed the success of being collected by major private art collectors however, Christian’s works find equal notoriety as being collected by large corporations. From Paintings in oil and watercolors to pastels, graphite drawings and sculpture - it seems that Sly has mastered each and every artistic medium.

To Learn More about the art of Christian Sly, visit his work online at www.christiansly.com