It’s been tricky, coming into the life as an artist. Making art is easy, natural. Identifying as an artist is still something I’m learning to do. And fully embracing the financial value of my art is something I look forward to.

To this day I still have a hard time asking money for my art. I notoriously undervalue myself and I’m working on that.

For a long time, I’ve understood that art is valuable to the artist. That I create in order to heal and invent myself. And in that I understand why people would not be willing to spend money on my art – because it is meant for me.

But that is not even a true story. I’ve already sold thousands of dollars worth of my art, sometimes 25 cents at a time – often times actually. The biggest sale I’ve ever made was $200 for one of my paintings.

Some of my happiest memories are hustling in street markets. Arriving early, setting up a stall, meeting people, sharing stories, selling my art, trading my art. It brings great joy for me to share the motivation and inspiration I embody. And when people pay for my art…wow! What an honour that is.

During Nuit Blanche in 2019 I set up on one of the busiest street corners in Toronto, and gave discourses on the symbology and deeper meaning of my art well into the early hours of my morning. How uplifting and gratifying that was. Not only to be accepted, but financially valued and encouraged.

And no matter how much of that I receive, I could always use more. I’m like a sponge. But the encouragement of others really pushes me to share more. The validation of being received well is a motivator.

And I am receiving this love. And so I am sharing more. And I am learning about the value that art has beyond the financial. I am advocating for the power of art as a cultural driver.

Although we may not all be willing to spring for a painting, or to download an album, we can surely all acknowledge how art represents the culture.

I use art to encapsulate and codify my mind set. My art works are expressions of my inner world. They are indications of my personal culture, which is then disseminated into the world to help define the public culture.

We gather in concert halls and art galleries to share our most intimate expressions. Art drives us to laugh and cry. We connect to the artist, and the artist connects to us. We feel empathy, sympathy. We see deeper inside ourselves as we contemplate the meaning of the art. We learn more about ourselves as we embrace our own creativity and dare to make our mark.

Art is a vehicle to better understand yourself.

The world, our society, is shaped and labeled by the art work that we produce. Art is the advancement of culture, the expression of culture.

Art is the expression of life and our values. It is a form of communication that lasts through ages.

Beyond the financial value of my art and my process, is the cultural value. Those who take the time to contemplate the meaning are influenced by it. Whether or not they agree or identify, they are going through the process of self-reflection, to better understand themselves.

When a work speaks to us so deeply that we are willing to trade our money for it. It is an incredible honour to the artist. That process, which can often be intensely personal, has the chance to take on a new life.

I believe that art is one of the purest expressions of the subconscious, often times less literal than prose, but no less significant.

We can voice our deep emotions through colour, line, shape, sound, contrast, harmony. It is a language that transcends borders. It is a fundamental language that we all speak. It appeals to the more primal parts of the consciousness. Art pushes the boundaries and in doing so sets new boundaries.

Today’s art is very digital, very processed. It gives great importance to the machine and less to the hue-man. It is becoming sterile in my opinion. But perhaps that is where I come in. I return to humanity.

I have long been inspired by Dionysus and the Nietzsche‘s interpretation of his being. Summarized by sparknotes, Nietzsche says,  “a frenzy of self-forgetting in which the self gives way to a primal unity where individuals are at one with others and with nature.” He said that the Dionysian arts are not subject to the same rules of beauty that Apollo was. Dionysus represented the raw expression.

I return to the raw. I value the real. I prefer the live album to the studio album. I see beauty in the real. That is not a denial of the beauty that the manufactured can provide, but my art points to my authentic nature. The natural world. The magic of life. The eternal principle. The joy of simply living.

More than the physical, my art points to a way of processing reality. It is because of that that I do not point you towards me with my art, my aim is to point you back into yourself. To understand how you are inherently creative and the artist of your own life.

Because of that I see more value in the mindset than the physical art work. The work hangs in my home as a touch point to the non-physical. It represents an idea.

Art represents the mind set that I hold and it is because of that that it holds cultural significance. It is an expression of the times. The values of the world. It establishes and shifts them. They are gentle, and sometimes not so gentle, prods into a new world. A new understanding.

Art has value. My art is significant because it pushes the world towards a deeper relationship with the fundamental truth of existence.