Origins : Art, Philosophy, and Creative Purpose
Pen and ink contemporary fine art by Doug Ashby
Again this week I’m exploring older artworks. I’m currently developing a new series that feels as if it’s pushing my creative boundaries, and I want to sit with that process more personally before sharing it. At the same time, I believe that working to more fully tell the story of my artistic journey will pay future dividends. It’s less about the story itself and more about what the journey reveals—who I am as an artist and how I might step more fully into that role and share it with you.
The piece above may be familiar if you’ve followed me for a while. In many ways, I see it as seminal. It’s about twenty years old and marked one of the first times, in my adult artistic life, that I set out to intentionally create a thematic series. It also represents one of my earliest deliberate attempts to incorporate philosophy into my work. This is the first piece in a series I called “New Myths,” inspired by the ideas of the late Joseph Campbell.
Around the time I created it, I stumbled on a series of Campbell’s interviews with PBS’s Charlie Rose. They were recorded at Skywalker Ranch shortly before Campbell passed away. I already knew how influential his work on the hero’s journey had been for George Lucas and Star Wars, so I was immediately intrigued. What I didn’t expect was to walk away from those interviews with a sense of purpose and direction in my art that I had never felt before. That discovery taught me an important lesson. That of always being open to possibilties.
What most captured my attention was Campbell’s idea of creating new myths. His view was that humanity had outgrown the old stories, fables, and mythologies. They had served us well, yet no longer prepared us for what lay ahead. He believed it was up to artists to create the new myths that would lead us into the future. I desperately wanted to be part of that work—so I began.
At first, and still in many ways today, I focused on climate: how humanity created the changes and challenges we now face, and how those forces will reshape who we become. I wanted to visually express the fragile balance between ourselves and the natural world. I also wanted to evoke a sense of depth in time and space, because it’s difficult for us to perceive issues of such magnitude. By rendering the central form so large in comparison to the other elements, I was trying to communicate that vast scope. The distant mountains, quiet and calm, suggest either a hopeful future or a distant past. The smokestack, with its unintentional pollution, brings us squarely into the present moment.
I was exceptionally proud of this artwork when I completed it, and I still am. In this lifelong journey of being an artist, there’s a real ebb and flow—high-water moments when I feel as though I’ve brushed the edge of the muse’s grace and channeled every ounce of creativity I have. These moments are fleeting, yet I can’t stop chasing them. It can be immensely frustrating because most of an artist’s life involves making work that doesn’t live up to our own perception of what is good. But that’s okay; it’s simply part of the journey. Whether a finished piece brings deep satisfaction or falls short, there is always another waiting to be made.
And still, I struggle with this reality. Twenty years later, I find it challenging to accept that even the life of an artist is filled largely with the trivial and mundane. Yet that is often where grace lives. It lives in the moments when inspiration strikes and you have the bandwidth to see it through. The artwork above is titled New Myths 1 because it was the first in the series. I’ll argue it’s the strongest piece, though many before you—and possibly you yourself—might disagree. You’ll have the chance to decide, as I plan to revisit the entire series, at least the works I still have digitally, to discuss them and reflect on how my narrative has shifted over the years.
For now, I introduce to you New Myths 1. I hope you enjoy both the art and the writing. Please feel free to leave a comment; I would genuinely like to hear your perspective. I know it will help shape me further on the path I continue to travel.
Thanks,
Doug
