Tag: authenticity

Authenticity is a fascination of mine, in writing, design, architecture and art, and I cover the subject in a variety of ways.

Several artists I’ve featured are excellent examples of authenticity. Judith Paul is one of these—the Chattanooga artist was showing a series of paintings title “The Last Page” at the Michael Mitchell Gallery in Charleston, South Carolina, during the Spoleto Festival USA. I tagged the post under authenticity because she expressed herself so eloquently when I asked her what had inspired the idea of creating collages with vintage book covers.

She answered, “I run my fingers over the beautiful cover and open the timeworn book in anticipation of seeing whether it is signed or dated, hoping that perhaps I’ve stumbled upon a first edition. I lean down to smell the musty scent and imagine all the places this book has been; envision all the generations of people who have been inspired, entertained or moved by the tale within its binding—wondering what their stories might have been.”

Sophia Khan’s watercolors of Venice are strikingly beautiful and during an exchange on Twitter I learned that one of her favorite books was A Daughter of Venice. I think you’ll see why I filed my post on her art under authenticity when you read her reaction to the book: “As soon as the first sentence, I was drawn completely in: ‘I resume my diary—neglected for so many months—for the reason, sufficiently satisfactory to myself, that here, in Venice, those who come after me, and who may see fit to peruse it, will find written less of myself and more of what I note in this strange, sad old city.’”

My diary entry featuring the works by outsider artists, many of which I own, was a shoe-in for this tag because I’ve never met many human beings more authentic than they are. I had the privilege of meeting most of them as I was buying their art and being able to talk with them about why they keep creating was a gift I will never take for granted. These are a few of the artists I see as highly authentic; there are so many other disciplines featured here under this tag so I hope you’ll stop in and peruse them!