ABOUT MY ART My Art I have been painting since the age of thirteen. I am soon to be 64. Except for a few brief periods, I have never painted full-time. I spent a few years in a special art class in Junior High and took one class on color in college, but other than that I have had no art instruction to speak of. When I was in Junior High, I decided that I wanted art to play a significant role in my life. I refused to paint pretty pictures or “couch art”. I wanted to paint what was in my head; unique pictures. By never attempting to make a living from the sale of my art, I was able to keep it pure. I did not have to deal with teachers limiting my creativity or clients whose demands would potentially dull the edge of my creativity. In time, I came to understand that metaphysical, spiritual, and some political themes would be the foundation of my art. In 1986, I finally found a style that suited me. On this website, you will find all the oil paintings that I have completed since 1986. Naked females In 2003, I began inserting naked females into my abstract paintings. The females I paint are naked, not nudes. For me traditional nudes are generally shown in provacative sexual poses (lying on a bed, sitting on a couch, taking a bath, sun bathing). The naked females in my oil paintings are surrounded by their multi-dimensional realities. The metaphysical reality of the earth and the spiritual dimensions are the environment in which my naked females exist. I do not feel that my nudes exploit women because, unlike traditional nudes, they are not provacative expositions of females as pleasure providers. They are simply without clothes. The women that I paint are engaged in a personal dreamscape. The many images and abstractions that create the dreamscape are all connected to the naked female. The female is naked because clothing would ground them in a earthly reality. In the dreamscape, they are free of this earthly reality as if they were in a spiritual body. Clothing would be confusing. I prefer women to men in these dreamscapes because woman represent creativity and men represent destruction. Women represent peace and men represent chaos. I want to create art that brings people into contract with their spiritual nature. Each of my paintings tell a story. Mostly the story is about transitions between life and death and how all things change in this reality. I believe that true peace comes with never forgetting that we are an infinite immortal spiritual being incarnate in a finite mortal body. When we begin to believe that this finite reality is the true reality, we become confused in the manifestations of the Infinite Oneness and lose our inner peace because we forget that all things that manifest from the Infinite Oneness in time disintegrate back into that Infinite Oneness. Dragons I also like to paint dragons. I consider dragons to be a secular representations a metaphysical mindset. I see dragons as neither gods, nor as demonic. I see them as symbolically embodying all the good and bad in the tangible and intangible universe, but I try to keep a positive orientation. The dragons I paint represent the female’s interaction with her metaphysical reality of heaven and earth. Dragons are very colorful and I find bright colors uplifting. I also like birds, butterflies and flowers because their colors are uplifting. I do not enjoy painting dark or depressing pictures. Enough of that exists in the world already. The intent of my Art There is a story of a man who gave a sick friend a book of Zen stories. Later, he asked his recovered friend how he liked the books. His friend said that he did not understand the stories, but he felt better after reading them. This is my hope for my art. It is meant to communicate with one’s higher spiritual nature. It is abstract, which is the language of the subconscious mind and the soul. Though a person may not be able to bring to consciousness what he or she is feeling when considering my art, they will hopefully feel better after viewing it. The purpose of my Art I see a lot of my art in flashes, as dreams or visions. These are very short lived; generally the visions last only seconds. When I see a painting in my mind, it generally does not leave me. All the visions I have had of paintings are still very vivid to me. Unfortunately, it is impossible to paint the sheen, sparkle, and glow that I see in the visions. Earth is just too dull a medium to allow for reproduction of the true colors in these visions. I believe that all art was originally spiritual in nature and purpose. We have reached a point where every absurd, banal exhibit has been declared art. I do like the idea of really good ‘bad art’. Art has gone from the photographic art of the Renaissance to the Abstractions of Jackson Pollock. The art of painting completely disintegrated with Jackson Pollock. So everything that could be done has not been done or can easily be visualized. Everything is art. I want my art to reside between the art of the Renaissance and the art of Jackson Pollock. My objective is to turn the clock back, so to speak, and create spiritual art. Not religious art with scenes of Jesus and the Old Testament prophets, though those in time will be forthcoming, but spiritual regarding the connection between human beings and their infinite, immortal souls and God. We are all, for the most part, confused in the manifestations of this finite, mortal realm where we have temporarily bound our infinite, immortal soul. The body will die and decay. The soul continues. I dont consider my art to be surreal. It is a dreamscape and coherent in relation to the naked female. Surrealism does not have to be coherent and to me generally strives to not be coherent. My art cannot be classified into any existing category. It is unique. I have included partial explanations of many of my paintings and placed the narratives with each corresponding painting on my website. I would call my art WorldPeace Dreamscapes. That would be the genre. John WorldPeace March 6, 2012