Luis Enrique Oliver

Life, like art, should not be bland and complacent. Too frequently, we are drawn away from our inner natures, our true path, by forces in the world and within ourselves that deaden and oppress us. I believe that art has the potential to be a liberating sacrament, a powerful yoga, a way to discover our wisdom, innate happiness and deeper possibilities for truly experiencing life and beauty. Art can stimulate and even disturb us into growth, it can afford us peace without rendering us placid and lifeless. It can be the conduit to reclaiming ourselves and our long-lost dreams, a path to healing and growth.

Painting, like any artistic endeavour, calls for one to listen inwardly, to believe in one's own creativity, and to silence one's critical voices. In essence, it requires allowing yourself to believe that you really do exist, and that there are beautiful, creative forces moving within you. Many of us fear that we are not creative, and become concerned with product in lieu of process - we become inhibited, tight and perfectionistic rather than releasing our need for control, and allowing ourselves to flow. Thus, the creative process is a metaphor for how to live life, for how to at least temporarily conquer the gaping maw of the ontological vacuum which threatens to devour us all. This process is exactly that, an unfolding operation, not a static event. Creativity necessitates discovery and change, Death and Rebirth; we can lose it at times, fear it at others, but ultimately it affords our life meaning in an otherwise absurd universe.

Please feel welcome here. Although many of the paintings shown here are for sale, the primary purpose of the gallery is simply to share and display.