Over the last couple months our family has been dealing with quite a lot. Specifically, it’s been my mom and dad who have been dealing with it the most. For years now my dad has been dealing with pain issues stemming from a botched back surgery years ago, a botched open heart surgery, and now nerve issues in his lower back. This has caused long term severe pain. And over memorial weekend my mom was diagnosed with MS. All of us are now trying to figure out how to deal with this and what the future holds. Beyond the typical things any family goes through with this type of thing, it has also caused me to reflect on my artwork, my career, my attitude and most importantly life. It’s been an eye opening experience and one that has made me realize I don’t want to miss out on life because I’m heads down on the computer every hour of every day. As I’ve been reflecting on this there’s been some real moments of clarity over the last 4 days.
In this journey I stumbled upon a letter today that I felt needed to be shared. There’s a lot of wisdom in it. And while the core of it is meant as a response to an aspiring artist on how to become a better artist I think there is additional deeper wisdom between the lines. It speaks to me “lift your head and see the world around you. Don’t just look at the world around you, but see it.” I’m sure many of you, like me, have been introduced at some time or another to the art of H.R. Giger. My first introduction to his work was when I saw the very first Alien movie. Who I wasn’t familiar with though, until today, was his agent, Les Berany, who also happens to be his close friend. Les is clearly very much a part of Giger’s life. I’m guessing it was because of this that he took the time to respond to a fan’s email. The fan wrote “I’m an aspiring artist and a big fan of Mr. Giger’s work, and was wondering if you could possibly give me some advice? Any help you could give me would be greatly appreciated, particularly if you could guide me as to what courses you feel would be of most benefit to me.”
Les responded to the email saying…
