John Foster Artist Statement

Art to me is at least two fold. On the one hand, it is an act of creation or a method of expression of my personal life. This expression, upon completion, turns out to be a physical object of uniqueness that is anchored to my very being , i.e. my total experience from my birth up to the time of creation.

But on the other hand, it also is an object that is meaningful to others who happen to view it upon its completion. It then becomes a part of their lives. And its meaning is a reflection of their experience from their birth up to the time that they view it.

If by chance they have experienced something similar to my experience, the message of the object I created is discovered by them, not through my experience, but theirs.

I am now 75 years old and I have been fortunate to have experienced many things, some of which you could say were very unusual...things that lay beyond common understanding. And I have held many different kinds of jobs, trying to support my family. I really wanted to be an artist when I graduated from high school, but “they,” my parents and the authorities of society, told me that “you cannot make a living as an artist.” So, as chance would have it (or rather as society dictated), I became an engineer, - believe it or not in research and development, on some of the thresholds of new science...but without a degree.

Well, I soon found that science also offered opportunities for creation, the creation of things that humans had never known before. But don’t get me wrong; I became a jack of all trades in engineering...and master of none. Yet, I did contribute to those projects in which I was involved using my powers of creation. And, of course, I continued to create art when I had the chance as time passed on.

After many years of experience, I have found that life is much more than time and space, well beyond what we see and feel with our bodies. Life, I’ve found, is limitless, carrying with it mysterious knowledge - feelings and meanings from the great unknown. And these things of which we know little are passed from one to another by means of art, - which really is a means of communication that also lays well beyond what we know as time and space.

You might say, “Each piece of art carries with it a unique mystique that only the creator and viewer can know.”

If you can relax a little and let your imagination wander as you view any art, you also might discover those deeper messages that come from the mysterious, eternal great unknown. In order that I might keep these somewhat undefined messages somewhat clear, I refrain from creating pure realism, but intigrate a measure of abstractness with each piece.

In this way, I hope to pass nothing but truth, beauty, harmony, peace and joy to those of you who happen to view my art, more of which you can find on my website, http://www.johnfosterart.com.