Timothy Orikri – Artist’s Blog

Due to popular request, my artwork can now be found on notecards, postcards, hat, t-shirts, keychains, mugs, stamps and more.  You can view the products here.

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So many of you have asked if posters/reprints are available — they are now!  I’ll be adding more to the reprints in the upcoming weeks.

To order reprints visit my gallery at ArtistRising.

I spent lots of hours staring through windows looking into a city, a city that is new to me, and I hear “the sky is dreary and dark, it’s falling, the sky is falling, see the clouds wrapped in a blanket of pitch black, there is no life, no hope, the gloomy atmospheric condition radiates a depressing murky imagery of nothing to look forward to, no life.”

The cloud loses its brilliance, the warmth of the sun is obscured by the oblique presence of the smoke-like hazy outlook, sheering all inspiration of hope. This cloud pasted in patches of deep Prussian blue, smeared in grey and black, casts its shadows of a sultry day. To some it may show hopelessness, to others with a mindset of optimism it may reveal the contrary.

If you listen to commentaries on the radio, in the news and read through the papers, the narratives all have a common thread, some of which aren’t good to read or listen to before bedtime so as not to jeopardize our rest. And even in the day you might get dampened just by checking the headlines. These stories sometimes load us with a lot of sadness, nearly crippling our zeal, losing our faith and sometimes on the verge of breaking our backs, but no, no, for me no matter how gloomy it may seem to look, there is still hope…for as long as there is Life, there is Hope.

Yes, I am on the creative hunt for the vocabulary to articulate that which is internal, projecting those problems as possibilities, all in a kaleidoscopes of reassurance that there are better days ahead.
These images are a reflection of optimism, better tomorrow with great faith surging thru, ready to sail those murky waters and be receptive to the vision of change and true brightness for our world.

In my own small way “Detroit on My Mind” exhibition reveals my quest and prayer for hope. It’s my attempt to create imageries of hope and bliss. How I wish I can breathe life into these images, calling it all to reality. How I wish we could all soak up ourselves in finding ways to bring that hope alive – starting from our hearts, through our families, friends, and even our foes, how I wish we could…

I share in the sentiments of Arthur Danto who once said, “You can’t say something’s art or not anymore. That’s finished. There used to be a time when you could pick out something perceptually the way you can recognize, say, tulips or giraffes. But the way things have evolved; art can look like anything, so you can’t tell by looking. Criteria like the critic’s good eye no longer apply. Art these days has very little to do with aesthetic response; it has more to do with intellectual responses. You have to project a hypothesis: suppose it is a work of art? Then certain questions come into play: What’s it about; what does it mean; why was it made; when was it made; and with respect to what social and artistic conversations, does it make a contribution? If you get good answers to those questions, it’s art. Otherwise, it turned out just to be a hole in the ground.

Through the ages, art has been one of the most unique, indispensable means of communication, a tool for me to make certain statements that will better our way of life. This creative tool has offered me a forum in preserving our cherished way of life, illuminating my innermost thought, and projecting my deepest passion.

“Detroit on My Mind” is a combination of sensitivity, faith and knowledge. These pieces aren’t luxuries of distraction or relate to any form of morally questionable essence, they posses aesthetical richness and an appraised measure of hope. Reactions I have experienced towards this exhibition have being mixed. Some have been welcoming, while others indifferent. Though ridiculed by some, I am convinced that this exhibit has practical significance.

Karl Katz, Director of MUSE Film and Television, once said, “People look at art as if it were a checklist; the label is sometimes more important than the work of art. My sense is that looking at art is like having a conversation. If it’s not visual and it’s not visceral (intuitive) and it’s not communicative, it’s not a work of art.”

Please join in the conversation with me. Let’s have this city on our mind, irrespective of what’s behind us, all that surrounds us. Forge ahead with determination of an independent mind, expressing and promoting the prospect of a better, brighter tomorrow: “DETROIT truly on my mind.”

Opening reception: Friday, September 12, 2008
Time: 6 PM – 9 PM
Toast Breakfast & Lunch Joint
23144 Woodward Avenue
Ferndale, MI 48220
1.248.398.044