The Chaos of City Life in Abstract Art
This blog may not be as hard hitting as some of my other ones. I'm sitting in Starbucks in downtown San Antonio while my step son visits his dad and taking things in. I was reflecting why I love doing abstract art so much and how much it may be influenced by my surroundings. I live on the South Side which is notoriously a "worse" part of town than the north side, though that is questionable. I see a lot of shootings and things happen on the north side, I think the south side just gets a bad rap because there are more people of color here. I'm as white as can be, but I like living on this part of town.
That said, there is no shortage of adventures in our neighborhood. Up until recently the people across from us had a pet pig in their yard we'd see as we drove by. Down the street from us some other folks have some pet chickens. A few blocks over a guy has a goat. Mind you these aer all in the city limits. San Antonio has a population of about 2 million people, so its not exactly rural. But seeing various animals in this setting is always a fun and special thing.
So how does all that reflect in my art?
Unpredictable Movement and Forms
We live near a regional airports, so often see helicopters and small airplanes flying just over head coming in for landing. There are often police sirens going off in the distance, or nearby. Always interesting people walking by our house. We have a Ring Doorbell and its always fascinating to see what kinds of things it picks up.
A few weeks ago police came to our house asking if we saw someone ditch a stolen car in front of our house and it was caught on our doorbell. Just crazy the things tech can do now.
Driving through the city, the buildings and shapes are all unique here, it spins around in my head making me think of various swirls and shapes for my art. My brain works kind of funny anyway, so I see different shapes and my mind goes to work on them.
Disorder & Imperfection
Urban life is messy, crazy and full of disorder. So is my art. Even doing digital art like I do, its all done by hand. I don't use the touch fill in things, because I want it to look sloppy and messy. I draw a lot of eyes, but my eyes aren't prefect. They are droopy and have lines and brush strokes you can see, and I like it that way. My brain is often chaotic, and I don't think that's because of my surroundings. I think I'm drawn to the city because its how I function.
Too much order and sanitation actually scares me sometimes. It makes me wonder what is hiding beneath the surface, what am I not seeing? I want to see the raw, ugly and wild right out of the gate so I know what I'm dealing with. That is what my art reflects.
Crowded yet Isolated
The city is one of few places you could be surrounded by thousands of people, yet feel like you are all alone. So much happens so fast, a lot of people keep to themselves. This always appealed to me after growing up in a small town where everyone knew everyone's business at all times. Being somewhat anonymous and being able to move about the city without attracting a lot of attention or someone reporting in as to where I was or starting drama. In the city you are somewhat anonymous. Another face in the crowd moving about with your own purpose. You can be the mysterious stranger on your own secret mission, no one will ever know. Even though I may just be running into CVS just to get some allergy medicine.
Stories in the Details
If I'm stuck on what to paint, often I just have to go for a short walk or step outside and the ideas come flooding in. Just all the sites, sounds buildings and people I have various ideas for various art pieces and how to depict things. Should I do a fluid or splatter painting, or add some abstract figures in? So many ideas and so many things to see and take in. One nice thing I like about doing digital art is I have so many options for different brushes and styles at my disposal, yet I can still make it look messy.
I do digital because our house is so small. I don't have any room for my own studio and when I did paint on small canvases, they stacked up quickly and cost of supplies was a constant expense. So, I switched to digital and feel I've grown in many ways as a result.
When I paint, I do so on my Samsung tablet using a stylus. There are some features that allow me to liquify the work and move the colors around into different shapes and patterns. This is one of my favorite things to do. I can do swirls or streaks or a combination of the two. I love seeing the final shape and what it creates. I then add an eye in and sometimes liquify it and sometimes not. Its always satifying to see the end result and how it makes me feel.
Living in the city is a great influence to an abstract artist. Its so alive and vibrant, when you have bipolar or any kind of neurodivergent condition, it can be over stimulating at times. But also a richness of sights and sounds, colors and patterns. I suppose if I lived in the country I'd likely want to do things like landscapes or portraits. But I love living among the madness and letting my own inner madness loose to see what I can create.