The blaue rider, subject considerations march 2006		Chapter 2
Chapter Zero Introduction Chapter One Geeta Vadhera Letters Connections Published by The Studios of Patrick Otis Cox Yin in New York By Patrick Otis Cox	Living with Vague Impressions Henri Matisse, “Instinct must be thwarted just as one prunes the branches of a tree so that it will grow better.” This is bullshit! Disillusion maybe? But don’t thwart your instincts. Listen to the little voice inside and attempt to appreciate those inner demons. I constantly ask, what are my instinctive impressions of daily life and what are they worth? Can I actually create some value in life from these murky visions of what I see and feel? Music / Image. I love music that leaves a deep poignant impression. I love images that shoot inside your head in the same way. For example, Van Gogh’s self portrait with the acid green face with contrasting red beard and hair, rubs against your instinct like your finger nails starching across a blackboard. The eyes are so intense, the motion of the brush work creates negative disturbing energy. Our instinct tells us that something is wrong or right or both. Learn from this. Translate to this to your work. I can be preoccupied and don’t see the humanity. The baby lifting herself up by grabbing the cushions on the couch, the old man complaining about his wife of thirty-six years, the middle aged woman looking in the eyes of a stranger hoping for a connection and the man looking away bringing sorrow to her eyes. These are real situations not fettered by the laws of fear society injects, but casual observations of people on the train, at work or on the street. We don’t know them, but we know them. I take a little pleasure in seeing someone fall, a car crash or movie star divorce. But I can be happy to help a friend with a documentary about local acting theaters and watch his growth as a film-maker or watching my sister get married. It’s these casual events, good or bad, that make us whole make us one. They have little to do with politics, governments or wars. Having a broken heart can give meaning to art. You walk in a fog, looking, but not seeing. Then a dim light appears in your mind and you realize you are alive. Before you met her, life was empty, she came along and filled it with warmth. Then one day she is gone. But something is different. You don’t return to the empty life you had before. The void is flooded with filled with heartache. The pain consumes you and to me the anguish is better than the empty zombie state of mind with nothing in your life. Of course this is debatable, but my point is you’re alive with a connection to your feelings. Art, music and emotions all come in different forms. There is beauty in young people’s eyes when they talk about new experiences and the same sparkle with the elderly when they talk about their glory days. You have to open your eyes to see. Now can you put this on canvas? The rhythms in life are continual, if you are be open enough to see them. Use your demons to create what others feel. Use your observations to bring a tear to man going through a divorce. Capture the excitement of a dance club and young hormones ruling the dance floor. Paint music from a single violin crying for sympathy. These are great works, these are future inspirations to other artists. Patrick Otis Cox
Beijing Bicycles (the Transporter) By Patrick Otis Cox