" Dear ALL ... "
Dear All,
A lot of time has passed since you contacted me, and since then, I have had the most turbulent and chaotic period of my life, but somehow also the most beautiful period of my life. The number of times you searched for me and my artwork after my glowing murals went viral has pushed me into a creative frenzy. I have tried to find a solution for every single one of you, and so I set up my greatest challenge ever—to produce my glowing artworks fast and effectively enough for all of you around the world. So, I began a long and challenging journey of setting up the production system to replicate my murals for you. I will probably not have much time for this blog.
Follow me on these channels to stay connected. Much love, Bogi
SOCIAL MEDIA - SO ME
Social media is a wonderful thing. I love the opportunities it has to give. At the same time it can be a source of much frustration..
When you have thousands of followers, you do not just post something that comes out of thin air in an inspired moment. Sure, that happens, too, from time to time, but when you have something to say, you really need to put some thinking into it. Most people expect you to be you. But what they usually mean by “you” is the person, the digital alter-ego they met online. Social media drives us to make our lives look more exciting and happier than we usually are because that is the pattern we see on our timeline. We see our friends at parties, on the beach, surrounded by family and all kinds of companions. Always smiling, always happy.
These are just fragments of life that make up a narrative - a false one - in our minds.
Some people might think I spend all my time on ladders, painting walls. You would be surprised how much time I am NOT spending on ladders painting walls :) Sometimes I get emotional and romantic by looking at my digital alterego on Facebook, wishing for that person really being me: the artist who paints with light all day long. But that is not me. No one really is.
Everybody needs some real people, real friends, around them. Likes and comments—however dear they are to you and however nice the people behind them are—will not be able to really cheer you up, to be really comforting or supportive. At the same time, they can bring you down heavily.
Instead of throwing some likes, how about calling a friend or actually meeting that person outside the virtual realm. You can’t reach that many people that way, of course, but one cannot save the world in a single evening. As a matter of fact, you don’t need to save anything at all. But maybe, just maybe, you can save someone from having a bad day. :)
See the Unseen
IS SEEING BELIEVING OR BELIEVING IS SEEING?
As an artist, I have to believe that I can make the otherwise invisible images in my head visible to everyone. I think that is what an artist does, and that is why we try to come up with something unique, something original, something that has never been seen by anyone, not even by us, artists.
Also, seeing is just part of believing. When we look at something, we only see a reflection of it under specific circumstances. We do not use all our senses to experience something real, and even then, that reflection is limited by our eyes. The spectra of light that go unnoticed by human beings are often seen by other animals and a few chosen ones of us. We call this spectrum of light the ‘ultraviolet’.
The use of ultraviolet technique in imaging sheds light to wherever we would otherwise be unable to behold a single ray of it, enriching the overall experience of visual perception by adding a brand new dimension to it. We can see colors that we would not be able to see by any other means; different contours, shapes, and patterns reveal themselves. As if we were locked in a dark room since birth with a black and white TV and suddenly someone opened the doors to have a look at the outside, the real world.
Seeing - therefore, at its best - is only believing that there is a lot more to see :)
When ultraviolet went mainstream, it quickly turned into a cheap commercial stunt, a gimmick to be used in discos and clubs as an effect among many other lighting technologies. Science, however, has been using the ultraviolet technique in many areas of our lives we would not imagine, but they were not meant to be spectacular by any means.
Art has just been rediscovering the technique, thanks to constantly developing technology.
My mission with using ultraviolet and photo-luminescent or glow in the dark techniques in my art pieces is to elevate those fantastic and largely unused colors back into where they should belong: something that we can enjoy, something that opens up our perception to the world surrounding us.
By learning having a lot more things to experience that meets our mortal eyes, we might just have a better understanding of how the world really presents itself and that there are a lot more happening even on the surface than we imagined before. I am hoping that this experience will take us back to a more harmonic unison with nature and each other by revealing, presenting and sharing that extra dimension that further connects us.
Seeing should be believing there is room left for the invisible, believing is making the invisible visible.
ULTRAVIOLET
Ultraviolet light is one type of electromagnetic wave. Electromagnetic waves are different than waves on a string or waves that you see in water because they don't need anything to travel through. They are waves of pure energy, and because of this, they can travel through empty space.
They also move really quickly, traveling through space at the speed of light. All visible colors of light, as well as microwaves, X-rays, and radio waves, are also electromagnetic waves. The only difference between these types of electromagnetic waves is their frequency and wavelength.
UV radiation is present in sunlight and is also produced by electric arcs and specialized lights such as mercury-vapor lamps, tanning lamps, and black lights. Most of us are exposed to large amounts of UVA throughout our lifetime. A black-light, also referred to as a UV-A light, Wood's lamp, or simply ultraviolet light, is a lamp that emits short wave (UV-A) ultraviolet light and not much visible light. The lamp has a violet filter material, either on the bulb or in a separate glass filter in the lamp housing, which blocks most visible light and allows through UV, so the lamp has a dim violet glow when operating.
A second type of bulb, which is also called black light, produces ultraviolet but does not have the filter material, so it produces more visible light and has a blue color when operating. Although many other types of lamp emit ultraviolet light with visible light, black lights are essential when UV-A light without visible light is needed, particularly in observing fluorescence, the colored glow that many substances emit when exposed to UV. Black lights are employed for decorative and artistic lighting effects, diagnostic and therapeutic uses in medicine, the detection of substances tagged with fluorescent dyes, rock-hunting, the detection of counterfeit money, the curing of plastic resins, and attracting insects.
I am happy to see you among those interested in the enchanting world of hidden lights. I am sure there are a lot more discoveries to come. Please feel free to share your opinions, experiences, and ideas.
Satisfaction by Lunar Eclipse
Looking at the Moon fills my heart with satisfaction - in an attempt to balance my general discontent.
As clear as the starry night sky, I recall the breathtaking experience of witnessing a lunar eclipse for the first time on March 3rd, 2007. Pouting and hurrying, I took my camera fitted with a zoom lens so old that it would have made it my twin sister and took the shot. Unfortunately, the photo has vanished. I have since been trying to replicate the sensation I felt at that very moment through my images. It is quite rare.
When I first witnessed this enchanting phenomenon, all my discontent dissolved for the time being part of the experience.
As far back as our cultural history can tell, the Moon has always been the second most important physical and spiritual source of light, following our very own star, the Sun. The Moon has made us wonder about the limitlessness of forces, sizes, and distances surrounding us and the possible outcomes of our fate with its changes.
I believe the Moon helps us remember that there is an unlimited number of discoveries and beauty awaiting to be experienced For us To be satisfied.
Curiosity
I am curious about what the new dawns bring... and the following one after that. A new day, the scents of a yet uncharted garden, finding a solution to a problem, an honest due conversation, the experience of something novel - only to realize there is still a way up from there. How a long-awaited embrace will feel like, being witness to the shift of shapes and colors throughout our journey, the tune we are bound to fall in love with and remember what really is important for us - the one thing we strive to get closer and closer to each day. The longing to perceive ceaselessly. I am curious about all these, the same way a child or a scientist is - peeking through the keyhole, daydreaming by the window, or expecting a breakthrough. :)
TIME
Over the years, I kept looking into the remains of Mayan culture, trying to find some connections, and I started to realize that there have been only very few people who boldly tried to ask serious questions about where the road was taking us. No ancient philosophers, records of civilizations, or modern science have been able to support us with answers concerning where we came from and where we are going. No organized, historical religions, not even the wish-to-be-scientific-sounding new age movements, have any underlying, actual basis.
Will the times come to an end?
The worldwide panic at the end of 2012 was caused by a combination of bad legend interpretations and the over-mystified use of the Mayan calendar. The Mayans had a vastly different concept about the passing of time. They considered it a divine gift, and they seemed to understand the sky too. One of the cycles of the Mayan calendar - according to the Gregorian one - started on August 11, 3114 BC, and is characterized by different terms. These can be a lot of help to archaeologists and historians as the Mayans have recorded several significant dates on monuments using adaptable, combinable, and highly artistic signage. Therefore, one of my favorite subjects is the tzolkin, also known as the 'holy count', which is a 260-day-long period divided up to 13 months. One of the signs symbolized by a mirror, called Etz ́nab, is similar to the outline of the Pyramid of the Sun, located in Teotihuacan, northeast of Mexico City.
The more information I gathered, the more confident I became about the fact that my thirst for knowledge would only increase, but nothing could stop the passing of time. When I look at this mirror-clock, it always reminds me to spend my time with important things.
The clock's creation took about 130 working hours and meticulous attention. Since my work is usually done under ultraviolet light, it is also handy to have the clock visible with or without any other light source. Moreover, the 26,000 photon-filled stars are also nighttime reminders of the shortness of human lifetimes. It is only up to us whether we let time just slip away or harness it and use it wisely.
“An Invasion of armies can be resisted, but not an idea whose time has come.”
Learn to Grow
I am back again in Vienna after a few fabulous days in Qatar...
Definitely the right place to learn to grow. How fast can something grow out of nothing? I have never seen anything like that, and believe me, no matter what you have in your hands, you can achieve miracles in your life and in everybody else’s life. Yes, money can help you a lot, but money plays not the most important role. We, humans, can only make true miracles if we are fascinated by ourselves and excited about our own ideas and if we are willing to make them. Don’t be afraid to challenge yourself.
sculpture - Force of Nature by Lorenzo Quinn -Doha
New Challenge
Dear all... I have something very important to say
After my mural work went viral on the internet, I received an overwhelming amount of response and feedback from so many of you—emails and messages containing comments, compliments, inquiries, and project proposals sent from people of many different ages and backgrounds and from so many countries, including organizations, retired people, and single parents of special needs children.
All of you either express tangible interest in my artwork or, no less importantly, simply inspire me through kind words and give me precious energy to continue putting my ideas and emotions into my artwork.
And, sadly, I must admit that it’s still an impossible task for me to reply to all of your messages and letters individually, even though I feel really terrible about it. But I’m honestly on the edge in many ways, especially in terms of time... So please be patient with me :)
Making a living through art isn’t always easy, and of course, I deeply love my work, but seeing YOU enjoying it too is a blessing in itself! Believe me, I wish I could visit every single one of you and decorate all your homes with something beautiful and unique. Of course, I can’t possibly do that, but I’ll always try to make my art accessible to as many of you as possible.
Potter's wheel ft. Ultraviolet Light
After moving my studio from Italy to Austria in September 2013, I felt a sudden wish to do something crazy with the paints, remaining after a mural project.
