Painting beyond the Canvas

WRITTEN by TEEJ.

Everyone knows that the art world is a very lucrative, yet challenging space to enter into. Although the art world is labeled as pretentious and snobbish, artists are the complete opposite of the world that they must be affiliated with. The reason why artists create is beyond the realm of just collecting and auctioning, it’s to be seen, to express themselves in a way that is outside of words and to present a much deeper meaning of being. The past has shown us that the majority of artists are to be labeled as “starving” or “insane”, most never even seeing the success of their works until after they've passed. To even get a foot in the door of the art world may seem like a never ending battle between networking and producing beautiful masterpieces. The struggles of being an artist are not just about trying to put paint on the canvas and have it become a world renown piece of art, it's also a mental battle of feeling like the hard work you’re doing is getting you nowhere or even the work you’re doing is for nothing and to continue to work through those thoughts regardless. Art, in specific, painting, is not a necessity for people to consume, it's a luxury that people want, they don’t necessarily need it. So finding a way to balance creating, and selling work to make a living is like staring at a blank canvas.

I've been painting for about four years now. I go by Teej.studio, I’m an acrylic abstract painter, mainly working on canvas. Without much of a background of making art, I've always known I wanted to create things, especially create my own life and express myself in other ways than the norm. Painting actually found me, seeing amazing works of art in museums, I would always think to myself, “ if these humans can create something like this, why can't i?” and ever since then, i picked up a brush and it became my true passion. Throughout my journey with painting i've found that i make my best work when i'm outside of my own thoughts. When I sit in silence, I allow forces outside of me to channel through me and let the brush flow without trying to control anything. I create from nothing. Ive been able to develop my own style, naturally and organically, and i've fallen in love with my process and the pieces i've created. Coming back to self after painting, I've struggled with selling my work and getting my name out there more as many artists do. I realized that something with more use than just a painting would attract more people to desire having my work in their homes. I then started to create Clocks. I hand cut, hand paint, and pour an epoxy resin to create custom wooden clocks that have my signature faces painted on them. While still painting on canvas I've allowed myself to expand my work to something different than just canvas, and my realization has brought me further in my career than I would've thought. Painting has become my life, my way of stepping outside of self and to really understand the power that the universe holds. It's a very emotional feeling stepping back from a painting or a clock and thinking to myself “Damn, i really just made that?” versus before when i would think, “Damn, why cant i paint that?”

Art for me is much more than just painting, it's an entrance to my internal self, an invitation to what goes on in my mind, sometimes nothing, sometimes chaos. Welcome