1997

1st Place recipient

Arthur Gonzalez

My inspiration is one that comes from all things that I can get my hands on.  I love to read even though my dyslexia doesn’t.  I want to educate myself in terms of philosophy and art history.  I am interested in Alchemy and Poetry.  I understand that I am a walking recipe of all that interests me, and as a result, my art is a kind of goulash of ideas. The subject matter may be about Pinocchio and the Italian Baroque.  It can be about the science of DNA and wondering why I still act like a child.  I’m interested at how old people are surprised that they ever got old and how the young feel like they will always be young.  I wonder why my dog had to die in my arms and how I still dream of her.  I wonder why dreams are so vivid and how I can’t see anything when I close my eyes and try to remember the features of my first girl friend.  I wonder why I criticize my parents behind their backs and act like a child when in their presence.  I see the fact that the future is unknown and the past is sometimes embarrassing.  I know that I will try to be the best person I can be and every day I wake up wanting to just eat donuts in front of the television.  I am a mixture of understanding that I will make stupid mistakes daily or I will strive to make daily discoveries instead.   I wonder what lies ahead and what will happen to all my friends.

As an artist, I can talk about all these things with paper, pencil, canvas, paint, clay and glue.  Being an artist is wonderful.  It is the where magic still exists.