Stu News and Photos

Giovanni Guzzi is my new Art inspiration. He is a college student who spent serious money on tickets to the Turin Olympics, despite the fact that he is blind. The video is of a CNN story on Giovanni, which shows him sitting in the cold, snowy stands, cheering on the cross-country skiers, even though he cannot see them. This news report moved me in a way that surprised me. As an artist, I find that I get stuck in seeing the world one way. I try to shift my "vision", but that requires inspiration. Seeing this guy experience the Olympics without needing to see them, I found myself thinking of what his experience would have been like. It must have been magnificent, as great as if he had sight. Hearing the crowd cheer, feeling the snow, sensing the vibration of the tension and release that the fans were experiencing - it must have been thrilling. It probably felt similar to my experience at my first rock concert, Bow Wow Wow, at Great Adventure, back in 1984. I'd never felt that unified exuberance before. It really was amazing to me, uplifting, and indeed life-altering. So now I have the opportunity to rethink my painting. Maybe I'll blindfold myself for a few hours every day and see what new ideas I get. We'll see. (Yeah, I know, I know. But that's how I write, so let's not get all excited about a turn of phrase that accidentally became a pun)