Art is for you.

Art is for me. Art is for everyone.

At least, it should be.

Art is meant to have an effect on you. I think we all can agree on that.

But art is not just meant to be enjoyed. At one point, I thought so. But I’ve learnt that art is so much more than that.

Art can make you howl with laughter.

make you dry in rain.

make you shriek in fear.

make you cry in pain.

make you wretch in sickness.

make you gasp in awe.

make you curse in anger.

make you see your own flaws.

make you dream of tomorrow.

make you wake to today.

make your life hold new meaning with every passing day.

Because art is human. And as a human, art is us so much as it is for us.

So when I’ve said in the past “it’s just not for me”, I was wrong.

Whatever I saw, it was for me. Because although I might not have connected in that moment to the experimental, the unfamiliar, or the strange…

We make art to be shared.

So when I make art, I like to focus on the human. An experience might start off as my own, but I want everyone to walk away thinking “I know what he’s getting at”.

And in my mind, the way I do that is to follow perhaps the most simple yet genius piece of advice that I’ve been given on my journey:

Keep It Simple, Stupid.

or KISS.

Break your idea down to its core elements. And then you can build it back up.

The simpler the core idea, the more accessible your work becomes, and the more people can come along for the ride.

And the best way to really enjoy art is together.