Recently I became aware of a Detroit area artist who combines art, sculpture, and music into his own unique form of expression. David Moroski works in both 2 and 3 dimensional form as well as being a musician. This means he routinely taps into both the left and the right sides of his brain as part of his creative process. I have always believed that 2-D work informs and supports 3-D work and the other way around but both are right brained activities. Dave takes it a step further and brings the left brained mathematical sensibility of music to his game. Perhaps that is why his 3-D masks have that rhythmic quality to their surface decoration. Is it visual music?
For more brain research see Betty Edwards "Drawing on the Right Side of Your Brain" for details. http://www.drawright.com/
Dave was initially drawn to creative thinking because he loves manipulating materials. Utilizing paint, printer's ink, brushes, clay, film, animation cameras or paper mache, he combines his imagination with tools and processes to create art that engages him now and he expects will engage him for all of his life. And as he has moved through his creative life, Dave has been inspired by some great artists. His Holy Trinity of modern art inspiration is Marc Chagall, Pablo Picasso and Paul Klee.
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| Marc Chagall |
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| Pablo Picasso |
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| Paul Klee |
See more images from these artists -
Chagall:
http://tars.rollins.edu/Foreign_Lang/Russian/chagall.html
Klee:
http://www.google.com/images?oe=UTF-8&gfns=1&q=Paul+Klee&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=0GHsTLLLNY39nAe7y8WPAg&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CDUQsAQwAA&biw=1280&bih=486
Picasso:
http://www.allposters.com/gallery.asp?aid=1023741760&c=c&search=27394&DestType=12&Referrer=http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.alot.com%2Fweb%3Fq%3DPicasso%26pr%3Dtbar%26src_id%3D11009%26client_id%3Daed124955d4a1e84587808e8%26camp_id&KWID=206505156&SEM=lang%3D1%26c%3Dc%26search%3D27394%26AID%3D1023741760%26KWID%3D206505156
When one looks at his paper mache, one can see Klee as a jumping off point for the joy of the mask designs with music as the inspiration for the rhythmic patterns. His drawings on their own and as part of the animated shorts that he creates with his wife Bea are full of the life and joy of Klee, the vivid color of Chagall, and the focus of Picasso.
In keeping with the renaissance nature of Dave's creativity he is inspired by a variety of sources. Books, movies and music all filter into his conscious. Sometimes these influences sit and germinate and sometimes they develop quickly, sometimes it will take years after making a small sketch in a notebook before an idea surfaces. But the best incubator for Dave is a quiet and stress free environment where he can think and collaborate with his wife on animation shorts that feature his drawings and screen prints set to music with her skills as a professional animator. "I enjoy making film and then seeing it shown on a large screen in front of an audience. The room is dark, the image is large and the audience is hopefully giving the material their full attention. I find the brief interaction between the audience watching one of my short films more satisfying than work that has been sitting in a gallery for weeks". -Dave Moroski
