Ray Caesar

Time to introduce you to someone else who inspires me... digital artist Ray Caesar.

I first laid eyes upon Caesar's prints in a bookshop in LA and was completely mezmerised by what I saw. Very quirky, eccentric and sometimes slightly disturbing, his work is a feast of colour of rich reds, Titian blues and heavenly turquoise.... I find them truly breathtaking and fascinating.

I know they are not everyone's cup of tea, but I felt really emotional when studying some of the images and was instantly hooked by the naivety of the beautiful adult like children.

Caesar spent some time as an artist in the Medical art facilities department of a children's hospital in Canada, and I sense that some of the horrors and suffering he witnessed here are reflective in his work. There is a great deal of escapism where these children have obviously invented make believe worlds where they can live free from their diseases and deformities. Nothing makes us grow up quicker than pain and suffering and these images portray the child in us all, and shows that these children hold on to that youth no matter how awful their reality may be.

I look at these images and am reminded of dreams I had as a child, the places I visited in my imagination. Now I had a happy childhood at home, but I spent the first 14 years of my life feeling like an outsider and struggling to be accepted in the world around me. I felt like I never quite fitted in, and found it very hard to make friends. So I spent a lot of time alone with my imagination. I look back and am thankful for this, because I feel that it was the beginning of creativity for me, and as painful as it was I loved escaping to the recesses of my imagination... and still do... maybe a bit too much at times!

Anyway, one day I hope to own one of these prints. When I make it, this will be my reward. A genuine Ray Caesar to wake up and covet every day, to remind me to love the child within, warts and all.