As a young skateboarder thumbing through the magazine pages of Thrasher and Transworld. Certain individuals and their styles would catch my eye. I would analyze the photographs of these certain skaters. Look at the position of their feet, their hands and try to imagine the motion on that skateboard. Then when videos came out with these individuals skating...not only would their original style show true, but their personality. Skateboarders have always been unique individuals, set apart from the norm. And then there are those within skateboarding that are set apart from the norm within skate culture. Mark Gonzales has always been and will probably always be one of those individuals. I always been intrigued by Mark. Not just by his skateboarding ability, or his art, but by his unique personality. I look at Mark and I see this wonderful reality of a man. He might not realize it, but his life shows forth truth. What do I mean? When I look at Mark, I see a man that is made in the image of God. If our world began from the impersonal energy, mass, motion and chance... then how can we explain personality, the uniqueness every man in this world? The creativity of people? Creativity marks the truth about man. It can only start at a personal beginning. God (the Creator) in the beginning of time, made man in His image (Genesis 1:27)... thats where creativity, and personality point us to the answer of meaning and existence. So when I look at Mark, I see a man made in God's image, not some dude that just happened to be that way by evolutionary chance. I hope Mark realizes that or at least some day comes to that realization. You, and I are the same... I pray you come to realize it... that in this world influenced by one emotional view or another...there is only one philosophic answer to existence, to being... only one...God created you.
all truth there, spoken well :)
ReplyDeleteQuote taken from a manuscript: “My profession places me in the world of higher academia surrounded by intellectuals. The context of that world does not generally lend itself to believing what is not seen, but in my world of art I’m increasingly finding difficulty believing that this human being, which expresses itself through all forms of art, is something that evolved from chance. There is more than the eye can see; I mean, look at Caravaggio’s soul in that basket of fruit, and the colors De la Tour mixed from lumps of earth for his “Christ in the Carpenter Shop”. I am increasingly convinced that perhaps chance has no place in any of this human/artistic-creator equation. Have you seen the glare of the candle reflecting off of the balding heads of Rembrandt’s subjects? That quality of imaging transcends something that would eventually evolve from a cosmic crisis…
ReplyDeleteDaniel, barely able to remain in his seat, quietly, deliberately and passionately interjected, “This is absolutely true, Tessa. For man to extract from the earth what is raw and pure to express his heart on canvas reveals the hidden beauty and magnificent resourcefulness of the human being. It is because we are made in the Creator’s image that we can take marble and sculpt a Pieta, or lead to primer a canvas for a Venus, or make a Stradivarius from a piece of wood to extract music from the soul!”
Whether or not Mark has yet been enlightened, he is certainly created in the image...
Hey Jon, I'm interested in this portrait photo of Mark, are you, or do you know who took this photo? I would really appreciate knowing, thanks - bray.cv@gmail.com
ReplyDelete