I am a musician and abstract artist from Cleveland, Ohio...
"I have been a professional multi-instrumentalist musician for over 20 years focusing on guitar and bass. I have been in many successful local bands, toured regionally and recorded many albums worth of material. My favorite part of making music is the creation process and while I can write plenty of material on my own, it's more fulfilling with an entire band. Everyone working together to put their part into the piece to make it sound killer. I still maintain my music creativity daily and even put together a recording studio in my house to make it easier for me to create and record music whenever I want to.
However...
Seeing as how I am a very creative person and most times having band practice once a week just isn't enough for me. I have always tried to be as diverse as possible with my creativity and have done so in my music (for over 20 years) and my primary business (for over 12 years). Over the last 5 years I have collected many pieces of modern and pop art by famous artists and secretly always had a desire to create my own art but never did.
Until now...
I feel I also must explain a major motivational push that got me started in creating my own art.
Going back a year ago, I received some art supplies for my birthday because I wanted to start painting and unfortunately, the supplies just sat collecting dust in my closet. I never had the motivation to start messing around with it at the time. I just figured that I would know when it would be the time for me to venture into painting. I am a true believer in that ‘timing is everything’.
Now, for the last 15 years I have dealt with major anxiety, depersonalization, derealization and depression issues. Most of you have either heard (or experienced) anxiety and depression issues but maybe not the DP and DR issues. I won’t go into the specifics of the feelings DP and DR creates but I can tell you it is the scariest feelings and emotions I have ever felt. I have tried a plethora of treatments, starting with holistic and moving to medicinal over the years, some working and some not so much.
Fast forward to January of 2016…
While I have been treating my mental issues with medicine and therapy for some time I had to recently stop my weekly therapy visits. It’s a story, unfortunately, being told a lot these days. My health insurance (which I pay for myself directly) doubled the cost of my therapy visits at the beginning of this year and since I would see my therapist once week it was going to get very expensive. I know I could cut back my visits but if I could’ve afforded it I would’ve gone to therapy twice a week. I felt it was that beneficial.
It was at this time I felt deep in my soul that it was time to start painting. I have read a lot of places that painting can be very spiritual and relaxing for the mind. Well, I needed that in a big way.
So the journey began…
'Creating abstract art pieces works so wonderfully for me because it is just me, the paint and the canvas.'
What will evolve through the process is my independent effort and creative mind pushing through my mental issues to release the pain I struggle with daily. I tend to have an idea for a painting and begin with some direction but it can quickly and most assuredly go off the rails and the outcome is much different than originally expected, but amazingly beautiful nonetheless.
'I like my art to conceptualize itself that way, unpredictable.'
I am looking forward to evolving into a more dynamic abstract artist through the times. I welcome all comments and questions about my pieces and I hope you see something that captures something in your soul."
- Chuck Taylor aka Embrace The Matrix