In the fourth grade I took art from Mr. Watson. He showed
us all kinds of famous paintings, most of which I thought were very cool. But
one day she showed us a painting that changed it all for me. It was made up of millions of tiny little dots
that when combined made a picture of people in a park. The painting is A
Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat. I had
never seen something so incredible. Learning that it took over two years to
complete made it all that much more amazing to me. Ever since that day, it has
been my favorite painting.
Later that same year, I sat down on a Saturday morning and turned
on the T.V. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off came on. I was blown away –
definitely a life-changer. Additionally, I was shocked at the scene in the film
where Ferris, Sloane, and Cameron go to the Art Institute of Chicago and they
look at a lot of the paintings Mr. Watson had introduced me to, including A
Sunday Afternoon. That to me, was a very incredible moment. And I didn’t
even actually realize it at the time, but it would be a huge influence on my
decision to pursue filmmaking as a career.
That realization came later when I had decided that I
wanted to make films and I began researching the film’s director, John Hughes.
He too, was a huge fan of that painting and put it in the film simply for his
own pleasure. He said, “...I always thought this painting was sort of like
making a movie. A pointillist style, which at very very close to it, you don't
have any idea what you've made until you step back from it.”[1] I literally
screamed when I heard him say that because I had once thought it.
I framed this
photo so that the painting and the film were the only thing inside it – no outside
objects. Except, of course, for me. But the way I lined it up it could appear
that I’m a part of it. It’s all one. Either way, the point was to see the
layers of creativity and inspirations. Seurat inspired Hughes, Hughes inspired
me. What will I create and will that inspire someone to create something of
their own? I derived this idea from out discussion of the Star Wars family
tree. Another element to it is that it’s two works that I love occupying the
same space, simultaneously inspiring me. It’s like the painting itself: there
are millions of little pieces that make up the whole picture. For me, there are
so many influences that have shaped who I am and who I want to be as an artist
and this moment was monumental for me.
Dude. I love it.
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