Inspiration

Stairway to an Illusive Heaven
iPhone Artistry

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” -Maya Angelou

Had an opportunity to break away today from work. I noticed that my creative batteries were running a bit a low and I needed to recharge them. While I've been to both the Kimball and Amon Carter Museums in Fort Worth, I had never spent any time at the Museum of Modern Art.

There were many things that intrigued me including the exhibition of Lucian Freud's portraits. I admired his simple composition and his inclusion of ordinary people in his life as his subjects. The pieces were large and absorbed my attention. I found myself drawn to the details and wondered if I could eventually steer my portrait photography towards a similar candid realism.

After completing the tour of the Freud exhibition, I decided to also visit the museum's static exhibits. It was an impressive  collection ranging from Anselm Kiefer to Andy Warhol. However it was the sculptures of Martin Puryear and Anselm Kiefer that drew my attention most.

 Kiefer's Book on Wings, a sculpture made from lead, truly is ironic in many ways. Wings of lead simply make flying unattainable. The thought occurred to me that if knowledge some how bogs us down and keeps us from flying, then It could very well be that lightening the mind free us to soar.

Puryear's Ladder for Booket T. Washington also seemed to get the lead out of my own head. As I viewed the seemingly endless ladder I noticed the uneven path of the ladder's imperfections; the ladder's trajectory however was a gradual positive slope. I took some the liberty of thinking more about that ladder and played with it. Eventually, I found my own interpretation and created a unique vision: Stairway to an Illusive Heaven.