Picasso – “Give Me a museum and I’ll fill it.”

I knew Picasso was a busy man, but this is a little out of control. I have come to discover that he created over 50,000 works of art in his lifetime. That was 12,000 drawings, almost 2,000 paintings and then thousands of sculptures, ceramics, lithograph prints, tapestries, and rugs. I am feeling a little inferior right now. Creating a 100,000 photographs doesn’t even compare. Picasso truly drank the art kool-aid.

I am noticing that every artist, regardless of discipline, has a method of capturing their viewer by giving them something tangible to discover upon analyzation of their work. Picasso essentially flattened a three dimensional subject as if it had been run over by a very large truck, the resulting pieces and parts were what ended up on his canvas. Within this flattening, obvious elements would remain whole, it is these elements that allowed the viewer to hold on and grasp reality a little longer. Shear genius.

Picasso never followed any one style or theory. He tried to remain open to all of the possibilities that life threw at him. And his artwork throughout the course of his life highlighted many of the scenarios that pulled him in one direction or another. He was quoted as saying, “Painting is just another way of keeping a diary.”

This past weekend I went to the Seattle Museum of Art and had a look at the new Picasso exhibit. The exhibit encompasses 12 rooms with more work of his than I think I have ever seen in books before. And nothing beats being able to get close enough to smell the paper. Not only was this an inspirational experience, but also an awaking.

If this artist could fill 12 rooms here, how many rooms is the museum in France, that houses the works he personally chose to exhibit there? And how many other museums have the same kind of show going on as in Seattle. With 50,000 works of art, there is a lot of art to go around.

This then becomes the driving force behind my photography. I do not want a literal translation of Picasso in my photography, although if I ever see it, I will definitely press the shutter release. I am not trying to achieve just abstract imagery, but I am trying to create and be creative as much as I possibly can. I love the idea of keeping the diary every day and telling the world about one little morsel of what is going on in my simple little brain through my pictures. Of never limiting myself to just birds, or landscapes, or nature for that matter. Of composing what I see when I see it. To keep working hard to achieve my vision, my goals, and my signature. And always trying to be inspired and at the same time attempting to inspire others. There are days I succeed and then there are days I don’t.

“Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone.” -Pablo Picasso.

What keeps you inspired? Is it an artist? An architect? Or a bartender who makes the best margarita you have ever had?