Thursday, May 31, 2012

Shoes and Shoes

I received a box of shoes on Tuesday from the USA. I'm just thrilled and the piece is coming together now. The shoes I received came from the Libra art gallery, which is located on the east side of town in Detroit. I did a show there about twenty years ago and the owner was able to find some of those old shoes from that show. My commitment is to my own city first, but I see the importance of building bridges to the moon and this project is my way of promoting the greatness of who we are through the arts in the D. 

Shoes, the souls, and universal law. Where are we going in this life and if shoes could talk, what would they say about us as people, here in this world. I'm personally looking for something deeper in this life. My work is my own medicine and everyday here I'm getting stronger in the faith. I was in town and there was a pair of shoes believe it or not, with a note inside of them just sitting there waiting for me on a bench. It was a close encounter of the third kind. It was magic! 

Shoes of all colors and sizes. Shoes with holes in the souls of them. Shoes voyaging this incredible journey called life. Shoes of hope and the ones we wear everyday as we commute from here to there. Today, at this very moment, I'm out looking for magic shoes, dancing shoes, shoes that could fly me into space and through time, past the milky way, 25 Trillion miles out! Do you know where there are shoes because I'm looking for them! 

A call for your shoes

This was a very exciting week and shoes are starting to come in on this end for the project. I've started to assemble the shoes here in my studio. This installation will serve as one of my visuals for an independent dissertation project. I, with the help of Maggie who lives here, went around the city talking to some of the secondhand businesses and stores concerning the shoes project. The response here has been great and folks here are just thrilled to help out if they can! I see it, feel it and taste it: Two Countries Two Cities one spirit. This is my way of using my art to show how everything is connected and there is no difference when it comes to human beings here in this abstract world. 

Once again, I'm calling for YOUR shoes. Big shoes, old shoes, blue shoes, leather shoes, your grandmothers shoes, happy shoes, shoes with no strings, and yes, holy shoes! I'm using the shoes to talk about spirit law in this installation. Everything I believe is connected to a universal energy that is in all of us, so I need your souls. I need your shoes! 

Friday, May 18, 2012

Two Countries, Two Cities, One Spirit

To the people of my wonderful city!! I would like to invite you to participate in my next project here in Basel, Switzerland. I would love to have YOUR shoes be part of my new installation piece here in the city of Basel.

The piece is called, Eurythmy of Soul, based on the philosophy of Rudolf Steiner. Having shoes to come from the city of Detroit will truly be the highlight of this piece. I'm using art to build relationships and to show how everything is connected through spirit law. So today, I'm reaching out to my Friends in the D, supporters and people who like or love what I do to send me your shoes. I'm calling for shoes!

P.S. 
The address is: 

Tyree Guyton
Eulerstrasse 25 
4051 Basel 
Switzerland

Monday, May 14, 2012

Spirit

My new project here will be about two counties, the United States and Switzerland, through an art installation and wall pieces. It's a research project that will serve as a visual with a manifesto: What is art today and can it be anything and everything? I was told that art is a reflection of life and life itself is a work of art, even the act of existing is art. Is art something beautiful and pleasant to look at? Can it also be grotesque or fantastically ugly in character and still be art? For me the magic of using the imagination and visualizing what art is for the individual is the key. I believe art is what we see and don't understand at times. Mistakes and accidents are part of the process for me - not knowing at times but trusting yourself to create what you feel. Creativity for me comes from that inner, deep, spiritual connection. It's the power that only the creator of this stellar universe can give to us, to create beauty from a thought and the ebullience to do so. This dynamism power is the same power that created the universe from nothing. I took what I thought was blight and created the Heidelberg Project. For me, after twenty five years, I can do whatever life is calling me to do at this point. My work is like a medicine for the mind. I hear it. 

My next project here in Basel is based on the philosophies of Dr. Rudolf Steiner and Dr. Henry C Kinley. I'm attempting to show through this research that everything in the universe and outside planet earth is connected to a greater power which is in all of us. Both men talk about the supernatural and a higher power that exists. What I did with the Heidelberg Project was done unconsciously. It came from deep down inside of my subconscious which gave me the vision to see it then to create it. Today, I'm saying that 2+2 = 8. I believe strongly that rules are made to be broken and that the abstract is part of the equation which is God who is equivocal in his or her actions. 

This new project, Two countries, Two cities, One spirit, is about life and circummstances and trying to make sense out of it while at the same time hoping to find self through our human experiences. With this body of new works, I'm trusting what's in me to show me the way, to give me insight and let me feel the magic of creating art first from within, understanding the depth of where it is coming from and why. Coming here to Europe, has opened my eyes to see that art is life and life is forever changing itself to be new, to be old and to be whatever the moment calls for it to be at that time. Life is art, yesterday is yesterday and there is no right or wrong way to express creativity. As I formulate this new research work, comparing art to life, nothing surprises me when it comes to art. Two Countries, Two Cities, One spirit. Today it's art and tomorrow it's art, never to change because It's Art.

Monday, May 7, 2012

All the Same

I'm in a country far away from home. I smell the flowers here and there are all kinds of people living here in Basel Switzerland today. I came here thinking that I was going to some strange world when I left the states last year. When I first arrived here, I was like a dog with his tail between his legs. I was so afraid because this was out of my comfort zone and something I've not done before. I remember having a conversation with some friends and sharing with them that there were not any over-size folks here in Basel. Well I lied. It's a place where everything is in order....I thought. Beautiful, pristine and clean here. Then there is the honor system with the public and businesses. The little old lady riding the tram every morning to shop reminds me of my grandmother. You have the rich and those who are less fortunate than others. I see people attending church on Sunday and little kids out playing in the neighborhood just like back home. I wake up early to the sounds of the birds chirping outside my window and kids laughing and talking on their way to school.

Daylight appears around 6:00 am in the morning. For me, it's my wake up call to start my day. The morning traffic is like music to my ears and I open my windows to invite the  fresh air into my space at the wee hour of this new day, which is everyday. What I see here is a place full of life, just like back home-people in search of the unknown. This is real life animated here just like back in the D. You live, you die and then you live again, just like back home. I have met some nice people and some not so nice folks, just like back home. Two days ago, it rained here in Basel and perhaps it might rain in Detroit tomorrow. Who knows? The sun shines here, just like back home. Day time changes to night time. I see different shades of people, tall and short, young and old. You have smokers and drinkers, folks on drugs, party girls alone with a casino, it's here too. 

My work and art has brought me here to study and learn for myself that there is no difference when it comes to human beings. We're all part of this great creation and everything seen and unseen, white and black, Swiss, American, it's all the same. In the book of Genesis the creator said that he made mankind in his image and likeness. Inside the human body there is no difference. It was purposed that way right from the beginning when the creator created us. Outwardly there is a difference, but inside, no. I conclude that spirit life lives in all of us. What's here in Basel, is all over the world, people no different, simply people who are the same.