My Art Story
SHIP OF FOOLS
Since I was 13 I have been fascinated by the creation of beauty and meaning in artistic form. It was something I “knew” I would dedicate my life to, but it has not always been easy. Sometimes circumstances have been difficult and of course the calls and pressures of relationships, material needs, and health concerns have all played their part. I wanted to paint and sculpt, write novels, make films, tell stories. That’s on the one hand. On the other hand, spiritual quest was all important. In fact, the spiritual life and a spiritual orientation to making decisions have been in place since I was 19. I have not known any other way of living as an adult.
Much later, after two life-threatening health crises that almost ended my time on Earth, I realized that my various efforts teaching and giving workshops in a variety of fields were an example of my childhood interest in discovery, journey, insight, and making magic of some kind—through words or images. Even when I wasn’t painting or sculpting I was still engaged in discovering things and learning the different ways that Life expresses beauty.
Now I am very fortunate in having a large, free-standing studio in a rural setting on the Sunshine Coast in British Columbia, where I have been painting full time for over ten years. The style ranges from realism to expressionism, but I prefer expressionism because it allows me to move freely from the inner worlds to Nature. The content comes from within, from dreams, but also from my readings of Nature. That is, I read stones, fallen wood, trees, streams, as easily as I read texts. In fact reading Nature is a self-nurturing act.
When I am in the studio I usually begin with an image or visual narrative in mind. Then, I do some sketches and then select the medium and colour range. When it all works I can get Ship of Fools (acrylic, oil stick, pen on canvas 36“ x 48“). This painting emerged from a dream and from my interest in voyage.
I try to paint every day, but there is nothing exceptional in my process. I do not believe in spiritual art, that is, in an art that is special because it has been received spiritually or contains spiritual content. I believe in good art. If the artist is dedicated to the spiritual life then he or she will develop as a human being and then such qualities may show up in her art just as they might in her carpentry, or dentistry, or cooking.
Images constantly appear to me and I have only to close my eyes for a visual narrative that has nothing to do with my present circumstances or everyday life to unfold. I am also never short of ideas, and there are several on the drawing board clamouring for attention.
For the last three years I have also been working on large-scale installation art as well as my paintings. For example, one of my projects is called The Kos Project: Healing Art for Humanity . The installation presents seven paintings, a few sculptures in ancient Greek style presented partly ruined, video projections, audio, and performance that calls on participants from among any interested viewers. The concept derives from an inspiration I had when I visited the island of Kos, near the coast of Turkey in the Aegean in 2017. I was there alone on a pilgrimage. Previously I knew of Kos from studies in Classics, and that it was the birth place of Hippocrates. It is also famous for having had temples of healing devoted to dream incubation under the patronage of the god of healing Ascelepius over two thousand years ago.
Today wonderful ruins are all that remain of these temples, but the site has a definite presence. During my month on Kos I had many experiences, not the least of which had to do with the Syrian refugees fleeing Turkey by rickety boats and hoping to enter Europe through Greece. Many did not survive the journey. I realized that healing extended from the personal to the communal and to the earth itself. So I put together an installation ideally suited for Kos Island. However, I did not think there was much point to creating an installation/performance that had to be sited in only one place. So my idea was to re-create the Kos Island project, theoretically anywhere. Each visitor to the installation is invited to ask for personal healing and for healing for the earth and the community through a series of simple tasks and guided visualizations, while original music/sound plays and a three-sided walled display is presented. The project is too detailed to describe fully at this moment, but it remains a viable art piece able to travel.
THE MARCH
More examples of my paintings can be found on Facebook, and on Instagram (@ramonkubicek). Details of my work and many more paintings can be found here on my website.
The main thing I have learned after many years is that Art is a Way for me —a way of self-knowledge, a way of navigating the world, a way of ultimately meeting the Creator in my truest form. In order to embrace this understanding I must accept all the stumbles as well as the moments of creation. There can be no judgments that exclude anything as we welcome the coming story.
