Baobab Tree Drawing

ARTIST STATEMENT Celebrate, celebrate having been blessed with eyes and vision Dream, dream at night and daydream Celebrate your dreams and above all celebrate your Creators creations And find inspiration therein - Dion Futerman 2008 Having felt a profound connection to the natural environment since early childhood I find inspiration in my emotional response to nature, the landscape, as well as to music and poetry. I do not view my art as fitting into any specific genre as my style is not a label, but much rather an effective tool to express myself and I have journeyed through many phases of expression. Whenever he was stuck for inspiration, Ted Geisel - aka, Dr Seuss - would open a secret cupboard and pull out a hat. He would wear one of his hats from his collection whilst he wrote. Like Dr Seuss I wear different hats, but they reside in the 'creative side of my brain'. I may approach a blank canvass or sheet of paper with a 'realist' hat or an 'abstract expressionist' hat one day, and the next wear a 'surrealist' or a multifaceted carnival hat. Never a 'cubist' hat - I do not wear one of those. I do not like labels, categories or little boxes. Society is comprised of 'little boxes'; we live in little boxes, we work in little boxes, attitudes and opinions, across the political and social divide, everything is placed into little boxes, labelled and categorized. That is why I am the most at peace in the wild outdoors and amongst nature. Place me in the middle of a dessert and I am spiritually and physically content. On the wall of my studio is written: "Do not label, categorize or place me or my art into a box. The only box I will be in is in a pine box when I cease to breathe". On occasion I work in series, allowing one piece to lead to the next one which in turn redirects back again and even over a period of years back to the starting point. Eventually, I may feel that the series has run its course. My daily mantra comes from quotes by artist Paul Klee: "A line is a dot that went for a walk", and "Art does not reflect what is seen, rather it makes the hidden visible". The stories of the Torah (Bible) and mythology have had an impact on my work. The Biblical, as subject matter for art or as paradigm for politics, is central to understanding our contemporary condition.  Dion (Gidon) Futerman “In the fury of the moment I can see the Master's hand, in every leaf that trembles, in every grain of sand.” - Bob Dylan