I Don’t Paint to Make Beautiful Things
Most people think I paint to make beautiful things. The truth is far less romantic. This is about why I paint, what abstraction means to me, and how art became a way of surviving rather than decorating walls.
“INSPIRATION”
SHAM
7/12/20261 min read
Most people think I paint because I like art.
I don’t.
I’d probably choose a far easier hobby if I had the option.
i love dirt biking and riding my bike but i’ve never known anything fun that’s not adrenaline seeking.
but it would be nice
Instead I spend twelve hours staring at a wall trying to solve problems that don’t have names.
Painting isn’t decoration to me.
It’s compression.
It’s taking six months of anxiety, grief, obsession, curiosity, and turning it into one object that can sit silently in a room.
To exist outside of me.
People ask what my paintings mean.
Usually I’m wondering the same thing.
The meaning isn’t something I start with.
It’s something I discover halfway through after ruining the canvas three times.
The finished piece is less interesting than the person I had to become or leave behind to make it.
