EnglishbeinArt Interview with Paul Freeman
Jon Beinart - "How would you describe your art Paul?"
Paul Freeman - "I don't know what genre I would call it, maybe a mixture of Visionary and Surrealism. Some times I will put a photo up on my wall and look at it for 6 months and let it cook so to speak, and when the time comes I will start to draw and let it extrapolate itself into some thing completely different.. Most of all it is Spiritually INSPIRED, when I am in spirit I AM Inspired!!. As I have said before it is a physical Action that brings about Spiritual Reaction, and I do hope other people feel that when they look at my Artworks.."
Jon Beinart - "Do you use art as a meditation?"
Paul Freeman - "Yes I do use my ART for meditation, I would say the whole experience is just one great big meditation from the beginning to the end, to me it is a means to step out of the mundane reality of everyday life and and go beyond all its vagaries Into a new Spiritual REALITY, and absorb what I AM doing into more Light within myself. There is a mantra I use: From the Light of GOD THAT I AM, I AM the Light I AM… And I find the more ART I work at the more Light I can absorb, and all so I hope it comes out in my Art so others can bring it into their life as well.. It Is a Transcendental Meditation in another form and a great learning Experience as well.."
Jon Beinart - "Which themes and archetypes have you explored with your art? Are these elements usually planned or spontaneous? (or both)"
Paul Freeman - "Jon. The only thing I could say that is planned is the subject, and then it is only the outline, and then What happens inside is Spontaneous, but their is allways the feeling of going into a Higher or hipper reality it is a very exciting or excited state of BEING And it enables me settle into that Transcendental State of being. My Archetypes can be any thing or any one. I just love the DOING OF IT ALL…"
Jon Beinart - "Who are your artistic heroes? What have you learned from these people?"
Paul Freeman - "My Artistic Heroes, 1st of all it would have to be THE OLD MASTERS, Caravaggio, Raphael , Michelangelo. A lot of the present day Visionary Artists such as Prof Phil, HR Giger, Gonzalez, Ernst Fuchs. There are so many great artist out there, but what I have leaned from them is to Develop myself as an artist and to teach myself to the best of my ability and keep on evolving as an Artist and find new ways to go about this self evolution, whether it is new techniques or new Visions. The last work I have just finished has taken me 7 months and now I will have a rest from my art for a while and the new work ahead will involve developing my Symbiotic themes."
Jon Beinart - "7 months is a long time to focus on one piece of paper. Do your drawings often take this long?"
Paul Freeman - "No I usually do not take so long to do a piece, and the only reason it took so long to do the MEDUSA was because of my cancer!! and the time I spent in hospital and time to recover from the operation.. BUT it would have taken 5 months to do it anyway, it is by far the largest work I have done. 1.5 metre X 1 metre or in inches 60 X 40 and about 650 hours?? their is a lot of detail in the work and that was the most time consuming part of it. I am having it photographed this week so I will send you a pic of it, sorry to have taken so long to answer your questions but some days are good and some not so good."
Jon Beinart - "I am looking forward to seeing this latest drawing Paul. It sounds spectacular! I understand that Cancer has been a huge obstacle between you and your art and your treatment has been time consuming and draining. (I send my love and best wishes as always my friend). Has you illness had an effect on the intensity of your subject matter?"
Paul Freeman - "You could say the only intensity I feel from my cancer is to break through the pain barrier as I am working, and that I might not get to finish all the work I have planned for the future, so their is a certain amount of intensity as I AM DRAWING, Whether it comes out in the subject is hard to say, But I do know the next piece will be soft or more subtle, and it is only the pain that puts a stop to things, it has been all most a month since I finished MEDUSA and I don’t feel ready to start this new piece as yet Even though I know how it will look. Hopefully I will be ready next week to start planning this new one out, this block of units is being fire proofed at the moment so that has delayed my work as well. I have my SON living with me now, and have had to make some changes in my life, but we both love ART and he is on his way to being a great artist as well. AND is a ripper guitarist as well.."
Jon Beinart - "When did you decide to devote yourself to your art? Was there a notable catalyst?"
Paul Freeman - "I decided to devote myself to ART Full time early in 1993, not long after becoming clean and sober. I had always been doing art when I had my moments of sobriety by that I mean I would be sober for a few months and then slowly sink back into My Alcoholism, and this went on for a period of 10 years, and then on the 15th of October 1992 I had my last drink. AT LAST I was SOBER. NOW I could start getting into my art, and just the doing of it gave to me a great deal of BLISS, and the bliss I received led me into a greater feeling of SELF WORTH, and then in early 1994 I started doing a piece of work called Rhapsody on a theme and half way through the work I had an epiphany and started laughing and at last I had found my Genre in ART and was given Visions of what would happen with my ART. And as I have said before Just the Doing of it is ALL that matters. The Catalyst for my ART was the fact that I was at last sober, I was inspired by Rhapsody on a theme and what it was doing to me. To be Inspired is to be in Spirit and that was all that I needed to keep going."
Jon Beinart - "It's fantastic that you managed to kick alcohol and have maintained a healthy addiction to art. How have people reacted to your art in Albury? (the town I grew up in, where Paul and I met many years ago). Have you encountered much interest in The Albury Community for Surreal, Fantastic and/or Visionary Art?"
Paul Freeman - "The responses I receive from people who get to view my ART is all ways very positive, and want to know what genre it is called, when I tell them it is Visionary that is when I get some strange looks and then I have to explain what do I MEAN by that. Sometimes when I have told people that I AM an ARTIST, the question back will be what sort of art do you do and when I say Visionary, what’s that??? So the closest to that I can give to them is Surrealism Art. As far as the interest in Visionary/Surrealism Art goes is a bit SLOW at the moment, and it will take a big Exhibition of Visionary and Surrealism Art to get the mainstream public interested in the movement….All of my Art so far has mainly been sold to private collectors, and as you know this town is very slow to take interest in some thing that is outside of the square!!!, some times I think that Abstract art is something new to the general public in Albury. BUT when the time comes I will be having a Big Exhibition of my work here very soon, hopefully early 2008."
Jon Beinart - "An Exhibition. That’s great! I'll be there. I know your work has been received very well in Metamorphosis. I sold a copy to The Albury Library Museum and another copy to the Lavington Library. I'm sure many Albury Wodonga people will love your art. Where are you planning to hold the Big Exhibition?"
Paul Freeman - "We are hoping to have it at the Wodonga City Gallery, it is all up to my Patron who will be paying for the cost of the Exhibition. I will let you know when every thing is ready to go ahead for the show and start to send out the invites. Their are already a lot of people who are waiting for it to go ahead, I have been doing a lot of promoting for it and I would like your help in letting me know of people who I can send invites to down their in Melbourne.."
Jon Beinart - "I'll definitely help you get the word out. I'll also post a press release on the beinArt Blog. Thank you so much for your time Paul. I look forward to catching up with you for a coffee next time I'm in Albury."
Paul Freeman is one of 50 Artists featured in our first book: Metamorphosis.
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