JOYFUL RAPTURE

The basis of this painting is the connection you have with another human when you are in a state of flow.

Though there are many ways you can get “in flow”, through sports, creative practices like theatre, music or art, or just simply being totally absorbed and “one” with the activity you’re doing.

I first experienced flow through music. I play in brass bands from the age of 10 well into my adult years. I fell in love with being in flow. I found it such a high. It is a state of being so present with what you’re doing, it just flows through you. For me, It really felt like something bigger than me was moving through me. I felt the presence of pure creativity. It really was “playful rapture”. 

I later studied theatre, and when I was able to enter a flow state, I’d see things in a new way; do things that made total sense, and react in a way that was totally fresh and felt right and exciting.

When in the audience of a performance where the performers are in total unison, in total flow together, goose bumps happen.

It is an utter gift to experience this with another human being. It’s a form of connection and intimacy that’s hard to forget. I am very blessed to have gotten to experience it on a regular basis growing up. It really blasts through all barriers. Age, gender, race, sexuality. You are simply people; connecting deeply.

SO what I wanted to do with this painting was to try and articulate some elements of this experience. The idea was a sort of tribal dance. The skeleton on the left has a sort of mohawk of antennas, channeling that inspiration and flow. The colours are fiery, golden glowing. The skeleton on the right is in tune with the receiver and ready to pic up the next step of the dance. It is a delicate balance between giving and receiving, leading and being led. The roles shifts. There is no ego involved, no importance given to whom is doing the leading or following. Both understands that either role is equally important in creating the wild dance.

For me, my senses feel very heightened when I enter a flow state. I am aware of every sound, sensation, movement. The small strokes, almost like hundreds of little colourful leaves whirling around in the wind around the two dancers, is a reflection of this. Everything around you is alive and vibrant.

The skeletons are of course colourful; reflecting the electrifying experience. The energy flowing through the dancers.

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