As a teenager finishing high school, my ambition was to
paint. I painted. I loved the smell of fine oil paints, had read some of the classics on
the techniques of oil and acrylic painting (such as Dormer) and spent hours labouring over
canvasses, with some good and other average results. I loved (and still do) the German
Expressionists, Dada, Surrealism, Photo-realism, Pop and other modernist and
post-modernist styles.
But it was not to be. I was not a particularly good drawer and because of this my art
teacher at the time discouraged me from such a career path. How short sighted! How narrow
minded! How unpost-modern! I subsequently went on to express my creative drive in other
areas and became politically involved, then later practised yoga and meditation.
I have now come to realise that I was always destined to express myself through the
visual arts and while I may have lost two decades thanks to the ravings of a mad art
teacher, I came full circle when I decided to study fine art/ ceramics.
Perhaps it was better that way. As a mature age student I was able to get more out of
my studies than younger students. Perhaps it was not better that way - much time was lost.
Had I gone on to art school then and there, who knows, perhaps my name would now be Jeff
Koons...