The last painting, SPIRIT, was something I had thought about in one form or another. The stresses of daily life were difficult enough for me to think more about my mental health. It was through this that I became interested in meditation, and started to look at the human body differently.
Slowly, my interest in this subject would escalate over time. First, with my painting THIRD EYE, and then learning about the other Chakras of the energy body. I had originally thought about doing a series of paintings about the Chakras, but it never happened. I would come across many books as inspiration, including an old documentary narrated by Leonard Nimoy called The Human Aura: Documentary on Mysterious phenomenon.
The Human aura was something I was interested in. But just maybe, this idea was too esoteric for people to appreciate. The light body was an abstract concept, giving me some freedom for artistic experimentation. When the last painting for the SPIRIT series came, this felt like it was the right path to explore. I wasn’t really interested in doing a painting about Death, well, the skull and bones version of it. It was during this time that someone in my family about would have health issues. What began as a painting became a personal struggle.
There were many moments where I would start and then stop, wiping off the surface of what I had painted from the canvas and starting over again. This continued repetitively for a couple of weeks. There was a part of me that began to think that I would not finish, or of stopping this completely. But I continued to proceed forward, to keep working as it was the only thing keeping me together. Eventually, the health issues would subside, and the recovery process would begin for them.
I eventually returned to finish my painting, determined to keep going, with renewed purpose and appreciation of life.
Victor Ramirez
THE ART OF VICTOR RAMIREZ 