Julian Raven, Contemporary Artist, born in London, raised in Spain, now Living in New York

ELMIRA, N.Y. - Nov. 10, 2013 - PRLog -- "

Since I can remember, art was always a part of my life.  The gift has come down to me from my grandfather on my mother’s side.  My grandfather  was an engineer by profession and yet by night, he went to art school and painted.  I never saw his work, but my mother’s account, he was a man who was in love with art.  He buried himself in art books, going to museums as he constantly studied painting for hours. However, he never fully lived as an artist or made his living as an artist.  I never met my grandfather, but I know his ways live within me.

My mother many times told me of how he could see the intense beauty in the trunks of trees.  He would stop and describe the colors and textures than no one else seemed to notice.  I know I see like that. Mysteriously, this seeing is part of my life now.  His father was also a creative person in the London theaters of the late 1800’s.    On my father’s side, the entrepreneurial spirit has be passed on.  He was a Jewish businessman, and a hard working property-developer who sadly died at the young age of 54.

I was 10 at the time, living in Faro on the Algarve in Portugal.  Whilst my father made plans to move to Hong Kong, we (my mother and brothers) lived in Portugal with my uncle.  My mother’s brother (my uncle) studied to be an architect.  The engineering/technical side of this artistic gift was passed on to my uncle.

So, as I grew up, my inclination towards the visual arts was evident.  I can remember being very interested in painting and drawing, and winning school art competitions.  After the death of my father at the age of ten, our lives went into a survival mode. My mother began to tread water to keep our family together and to keep us kids in school back in Marbella, Spain.  Those years were empty as far as artistic memories go.  I spent those years wondering about life and death and I began to ask the big questions about life.  Thus began my quest for truth and the spiritual voyage that would develop and dominate my life for years to come.

It was later in my teens when my math teacher, Dr. Mike Sutcliffe, at the English International College, in Marbella, Spain (who also was a guitarist) saw me doodling. He set a squashed coke can before me and said, "Draw!".  After my effort, he encouraged me back into the arts.  His encouragement led me to meet Mr. David Bodlak, an art professor from California.  Mr. Bodlak would begin to mentor me in my artistic gift.  He became the biggest influence in my life up until that time.  His enormous capacity to encourage even the most feeble artistic efforts was always inspiring.  His attitude, his love for classical flamenco guitar music,  and his creativity and passion were contagious.  While in Spain, he lived vicariously through the hot-blooded veins of Spanish bullfighters.  His art, (See link below) reflected this. He loved his students. He had a particular appearance: leather waist coat, beard, slick parted hair, glasses, coffee breath, some sort of short cigars held in a brown plastic holder, and a deep and deliberate voice.  By these qualities I shall always remember him.

During this season of discovery, I painted, I drew, and I experimented in all manner of mediums.  I was always curious and always experimenting.  Although I loved traditional methods, I found that the 'experimental abstract' and 'expressive' suited my entrepreneurial and discovery-seeking nature.

I passed my British ‘O’ levels, which were the US high school equivalent, with average grades. I passed the ‘A’ levels, which were the pre-college level, by the skin of my teeth.  I was never a great student, I was always too distracted with other pursuits, lacked discipline, and was a terrible procrastinator.  Upon passing these grades, I took a year off since I had completed school early.  The following year, I began to apply to art colleges in London.  Being somewhat convinced of myself as an artist, I only wanted to apply to the best school in London. I chose the Chelsea School of Art and Design.  I failed to get accepted on my first interview, but with my mother’s persuasive efforts, she managed to get me another interview.   I made it through onto the second year of the B-Tech National diploma. This was to prepare me for the three year Bachelor of Arts program.

Art school was a bitter sweet experience for me.  I started with a month’s long figure-drawing program during the summer of 1988.  This was to get me up to speed in figure drawing.  The Chelsea School of Art and Design was like a playground for me.  The facilities were incredible, as were the painting, printing and drawing studios.  No only was there was an excellent  library, but photography, sculpture, metal working and wood working shops (and don't forget the canteen!).  I had come from the relatively small coastal town of Marbella, in Southern Spain.  The art room there was very simple compared to the multiple site locations and facilities that Chelsea offered.  I would find myself exploring the various rooms during lunch breaks, always learning some new technique.  This was the sweet part of the experience.

Life in London though, was lonely and grey.  Having grown up in the warm, vibrant and sunny Marbella in Andalusia, Spain, London was very tough for me.  The difficulty of of being away from my family was compounded by the rain and coldness of many London folk.  This was depressing!  I had been on a pursuit for existential answers since I could remember.  I continued to ask the big questions about life.  Even though I lived in the vicarage of the Anglican church in Earls’s Court, I still came up empty.  The hard-core Anglicans with which I lived were racists and this deeply saddened me.  The dark unlit corridors in my mind, combined with the grey sky of rainy London’s average day, drove me ever deeper into sadness and depression."

Read more about Julian Raven's Art History at http://www.julianraven.com

Also please like and comment on his facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/julianravenartist