My desire is that my art emotionally connects with people. But primarily I think of my art as an experiment in finding my shadows, stories, hero’s, and of course my demons. This is evident in my Abstraction and Reflection Collections, but especially in my Wood Grain series. I use a stream of consciousness approach, allowing the patterns of the natural wood grain to guide me. The longer I explore the opportunities hidden in the grain, I begin to see these organic shapes become faces, creatures, and stories from my own subconscious. This collection has the most opportunity to help me further discover who and what a Vincent is. It is like I am a witness to myself creating. It feels like an outside energy is doing the actual work, as though I am a conduit to the universe. And through my own personal discoveries, I hope others will find their own stories and narratives, and a new part of themselves will be revealed.
Sidenote: I suffer (or benefit) from what is known as Pareidolia (pæra??d??l??) noun: The science behind seeing faces in everyday objects. Have you ever tried to look for shapes in clouds, or seen a face burned into your toast? Pareidolia is a psychological phenomenon that causes people to see patterns in a random stimulus. This often leads to people assigning human characteristics to objects.This helps fuel my work.
What do I hope to accomplish through my art? Do not allow fear to dictate our actions in the present moment. We cannot know the future, so why make up stories about what it might hold? Thinking about the past leads to depression. Ruminating about the future creates anxiety. Living in the present without fear is bliss. My message is to fearlessly fall into the flow of each moment, both in the creation of art, as well as in daily life itself.