Lyn Bishop : Sharing Secrets

Look around. Do you see the inspiration? It’s right there, in front of you.

Sometimes I lose sight of this, and dive into the struggle of searching for the perfect spark, overlooking all the other sparks that are going off around me. This can describe my state for the last couple of weeks, searching, searching for the next perfect inspiration.

I got to journaling yesterday, and found that I was indeed excited about a spark I’d previously had, but put on the back burner because I was searching for the better one. Silly me. As I wrote about my desire for clear, flowing inspiration, I found myself tapping into this previous inspiration. As I continued to write about it, I realized that I was excited and motivated to take it beyond a thought and feeling, and into reality. (more…)

This is the question I find myself asking recently as more and more curators and gallery directors are choosing to exhibit controversial and shocking art that involves the death of living beings at the hands of the artists they represent.

Let me be clear, I do believe that the artist has a role to play in holding up a mirror for society to study their own, often hypocritical and cynical, behavior in relationship to the darker sides of humanity. I also acknowledge that artists have a long history of using dead animals in their work. However, I draw the line when artists and curators exploit the killing and torture of animals for the publics’ entertainment and for their own profit and fame. (more…)

I know this may sound crazy, but I have conversations with my art. Yup, it’s true, I talk with my work, and then allow myself to connect with the quiet energy that it communicates back in response.

I became conscious of my conversations during my exhibit in Kyoto last year. Perhaps it stemmed from the daily prayers that I offered at the small temple along Tetsugaku-no-Michi (Philosophers Path), or the quiet moments inside the temple before I opened the heavy doors, or maybe I’ve been doing it unconsciously since who knows when. However it started, it’s become ritual, especially during exhibits.

I think, in general, we artists invest tremendous amounts of love and care into our work and often find it difficult to let the work have a life of its own after it is finished. We often want to protect it, as if it were a child. We want the collector to love it as much as we do.
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Today’s New York Times reports that Robert Rauschenberg has passed away at age 82.Rauschenberg is my favorite American artist. An innovative painter, photographer and printmaker, he has always been able to find beauty and meaning in the seemingly “mundane” and “everyday” objects around him. He is a master at layering disassociated objects, texture, and color into his work.He is also fearless when it comes to appropriating images, such as John F. Kennedy, or NASA photographs, and as a result his artwork helped to define a generation. Most of all, Rauschenberg is a tireless creator, always willing to try new techniques and technologies.It’s his printmaking that I enjoy most. Having been inspired by an exhibit of his large screenprints at Gemini G.E.L. at Joni Moisant Weyl gallery in NYC, I returned home, confident to pursue my interest in culture and to continue my own experiments with transfer printing. Perhaps Appointment is my favorite of this series. (more…)

Last weekend I hosted my annual Open Studios exhibit. It’s a fantastic opportunity to share my art directly with my community. Art lovers from all over Silicon Valley come out to visit the artist in their working studio, ask questions and learn more about the creation of the work. I find it fascinating that year after year, there is a core group of “fans” that come back to see what I’ve been up to… and that got me thinking about my own fanaticism in regards to music.

I’m a long time music fan, and have followed bands across the country and to foreign countries just to hear their concerts. Last night in the afterglow of Open Studios I made the connection. Art collectors are like music fans. (more…)