I’ M AN ARTIST WHO ALMOST WASN’ T.
by Nancy Mueller
child’ s view of the world is heavily influenced by the adults in his or her life. Because of this, a child’ s dreams can be strongly encouraged or just as easily crushed by a mean-spirited or unknowing adult.
Lucky for me, most of my influence came from my mother and 4 sisters. Through the eyes of my mother and sisters, I grew to have a tremendous amount of respect and admiration for women and the valuable role they play within society as well as each culture.
As a child, my experience of race, color and culture grew when I started middle school when the awareness of the diversity within cultures became apparent. This awareness also began to influence my view of the world as well as my artistic talents; if you were to ask my parents, they’ d tell you I’ ve had a pencil and paper in my hands as early as four or five years old. I was really obsessed with cartoons, Looney Tunes, Transformers, Fat Albert, Superman, and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I would wake up every Saturday morning and plant myself in front of the TV. Whether I was watching my favorite shows or sharing this time with my sisters watching Rainbow Brite and Care Bears, these shows brought me the inspiration I credit for the art I create today.
Although each of my five senses were filled with colors, lines, shapes and artistic flow, I was an artist who almost wasn’ t. All through school I was constantly being told by teachers that I daydreamed too much and that my doodling was getting in the way of my schoolwork. During my senior year of high school, my guidance counselor actually told me that drawing was not going to bring me a successful career nor would it take me anywhere in life; he told me I should take life more seriously. Prior to that crushing revelation I had dreamt of somehow making art a part of my life.
Where others saw comics and cartoons, I saw lines and shapes that pulled at my artistic passions and as I grew older I honed my visions; learning techniques from old masters such as Rembrandt, Homer, Manet Hopper and Van Gogh.
Because of the advice from adults who told me I would never make a living with my art; when I graduated from high school I decided to get a retail job and focus on making money and“ being responsible”. I continued this routine for years, until a former middle school classmate convinced me to go back to college and get an art degree. Two and a half years later, I received my Associates Degree in 3D Animation and design, and was the first in my family to go to college and graduate! One of my biggest life lessons was learning to listen to my instincts and honor my talents instead of allowing the opinions of others to dictate how I show up in my life.
When you see my work, you may ask me,“ why the bright pink hair?”
Thanks for asking,” I paint women with pink hair because the hair is representational of two things; the color and the style. You’ ll notice the style is very wild, untamed, curly, uncontrolled and unbound. This represents the freedom women have within my artwork. The freedom for them to do what they want to do, be who they want to be without any restraints from gender and equality, without any control from sexism, without any constrictions created by misogyny. The pink color is very bright and its vibrant color is representational of the internal beauty belonging to a woman, along with her strength and her courage. Pink is the vibrant color I choose because, personally, it represents breast cancer awareness and my mother is a breast cancer survivor. It also represents the color of many different flowers. But more specific; a rose, which is not only a very beautiful flower but it ' s also a flower that protects itself with thorns. The women in my art, although they are beautiful aesthetically, are also protectors of themselves.”
In today’ s society, I live in a world of massive gender inequality and I’ m making it my personal responsibility as a man to use my voice creatively to bring attention and awareness to the strength, passion, resilience, innovation and beauty that women can offer to the world. When we empower women to receive the same opportunities and treatment that men have, there can only be amazing positivity and growth for us as human beings. The power of creation and the universe itself exists within the woman and without her we could never be.
“ My voice stands with her voice, and each line I create builds a step towards equality for her.”
www. lajizzyart. com