A Tale of Two Lukes

A very long time ago I wrote to you guys about music and the way that one occasionally responds on some basic, primitive level that is virtually unexplainable. You can read the original post here. It's still a post I feel strongly about.

While that post in particular was written about music, I've found over time that the same holds true for all forms of art. To clarify, for the remainder of this post I'm going to use the word art to refer to all works in all mediums: paint, pencil, ink, music, film, architecture, design, literature, poetry, etc.



I don't know much about art at all. I would venture to say that I know embarrassingly little. I often miss symbolism, implied meaning, and artist's intent that other educated people pick up on pretty easily. I think there was a time in my life when I had great passion about these things and so gave them much more attention, thus becoming better at recognizing and interpreting their meaning. Then I graduated from college, joined the rest of the cubicle army and haven't had the time to devote to the arts that I used to. Over the years my ability to enjoy and interpret have diminished.

The real bummer about this is that the majority of my friends are either artists or very like-minded fans of art. Writers, poets, filmmakers, painters, musicians, designers, these are the people I spend time with. Needless to say I spend a lot of time feeling rather dim.

However, I do know instantly when I like something. I may not be able to tell you exactly why I like it, but I respond to it and I Know that I like it.

This happened recently with a work by my friend, Elise Sonnier. I've always really enjoyed her work for a number of reasons, and her most recent series has been very interesting. She had a show here in Lafayette recently and there was one piece in particular that I responded to very strongly. I know in my head why I like it so much but I can't really put it into words. Thankfully, I can revisit that feeling a lot now because it's hanging in my house. Awesome.

She doesn't have the painting I'm referring to online, but this is another of her works that I like:



Today I've experienced another response similar to that. I was reading JoshSpear.com, a blog that specializes in basically all things media, which I read daily. One of his most recent posts was a piece about artist Luke Chueh in reference to an upcoming show in Los Angeles. So I read the piece and followed the link to Chueh's website (which I recommend you do as well, as soon as you finish reading this dreadfully long post).

I fell in love immediately. Looking through the index of his work, there are some I love (most of them) and others I don't love as much (very few), but I really like his aesthetic. Again, I don't know why but this is something I am enjoying very much.

I think this one is my favorite.

Coincidentally, it just so happens that my birthday is this month. September 28th is the magic day, as I'm sure you all are aware because your calenders are undoubtedly marked with large red circles indicating such. If anyone can figure out how to get their hands on a print of almost any of Luke Chueh's work, this would be a very very good idea for a birthday gift. I would love to have one or more of his paintings in my home.