good things in me and so I had some bad
things in me after I was a third year
freshman in college I decided to change
some things up a little bit so I decided
I was not going to go down that path of
a fourth year freshman in college I left
that university I left my friends I left
my music I left my clothes and I packed
up I moved down to Tennessee and I
decided I was gonna completely change my
whole entire life it was about this time
that I learned a very fundamental thing
about going to class that if you go to
class you’re gonna do pretty well in
school so I immediately started going to
class change my grades around but I
still was missing some things in life
and I had heard my whole life about how
awesome art is things of this nature so
about this time I was 24 25 years old I
went to a philosophy conference in
Chicago it was all about art and I said
I don’t like art I don’t understand it
so let me give this art a chance so I
went to that talk and that talk was the
spark that forever changed my life
at the beginning of the talk the
gentlemen performed a very interesting
experiment he said spend one minute
looking around the room writing down
everything that you see so thinking that
I’m a genius you know I write floor
ceiling table there was I remember this
there was a beautiful woman sitting next
to me all I said was woman you know all
this so we go through this whole thing
so he spends an hour on one slide right
he goes he talks about color texture
shadow composition spending one entire
hour on one slide at the end of that
talk he says now spend one minute
writing down what you see I got it I was
blown away not only was I now saying
whoa
I was describing the qualities of the
woman her black hair her luscious red
lips the tanned nature of her skin no
longer was I saying ceiling floor I was
describing qualities quantities things
that I had never done before the whole
point of his talk was that many people
live in their minds and they never look
out here he said if you not only want to
look out here but to see what’s out here
but then to be impassioned about what’s
out here go home find some art that you
like hang it all over your house look at
it live with it and see what that does
to you over the years I did that very
thing I went back down to Tennessee down
came by NASCAR posters up went my
portraits are Rembrandt my friends
thought I was absolutely insane but
something profound happened to me what
is that that is a mess this is what I’m
talking about this is how this was not
me at the time this was actually my
roommate I was a little better than this
at the time but this is actually how I
was raised and how I raised myself and I
never realized that the things that were
around me were actually called a mess I
went home I found artworks that I sort
of liked and I hung them up and I looked
at him much in the way that that
gentleman taught us to look at art at
that philosophy conference I spent one
year doing this and at the end of that
year the most amazing thing happened to
me in my life I made my bed
I made my bed
I made my bed not because mom’s yelling
at me not because dad’s yelling at me
but because I wanted the world of Lee to
look like the world of art when you look
and appreciate a fine painting it will
teach you how to see out here it will
teach you how to organize out here and
at the end of the day it will give you
that ahh feeling right I call it the aw
philosophy of life and then if you get
enough of these aahs in your daily life
you’ll have a good day
I did that very thing I started to make
my bed because I wanted to go ahh
but I didn’t stop there you can ask my
roommates at the time I didn’t stop
there I started cleaning everything I
started polishing dusting never heard of
it before
now I’m dusting everything polishing
everything I completely rearranged my
life so that whenever I entered into my
living space I went oh art has taught me
so many things in life over the years
one of the most fundamental things is
that it not only taught me to look out
here to see out here and to become a
passion about here let me give you two
examples I’m in Tennessee and I decide
that I want to become an artist storing
that this art thing is pretty cool so
Middle Tennessee State University where
I was the artist story and wanting to
learn about arts was given one classroom
in the AG building where the budding
young art historian would walk into the
lobby and see two things a decomposing
horse skeleton and a couch which was
either used for sitting or one
enterprising professor cut a hole in the
side so artificial insemination practice
this is where I took my first art
history classes and I fell in love with
it so like most art historians I moved
to New York City became broke had to
live in New Jersey while pursuing a PhD
in art history
I’m cleaning in New Jersey one day I’m
they’re going to do some work at my desk
and I look over and for just a couple of
minutes of every day the Sun would go
through this one particular window and
it hit that broom and dustpan how many
of you in here I’ve ever photographed a
broom and a dustpan how many of you in
here have been moved by a dustpan and a
broom on this very day I was I looked at
that and I went all right it hit me like
a thunderbolt I took a picture of it not
because I thought that I would be in
Blacksburg showing people this picture
of 20 years later but because I had to
remember that moment that was an all
moment of my life another great moment
and I have a thousand of these in New
York City the culture is is that you get
your shoeshine right it’s three dollars
for shoeshine and then one dollar for a
dip these are everywhere and I always
went to this one guy because he did the
best job ever so on this day he not only
gave me the best shoeshine that I had
ever seen in my life but then he did
something I never understand
he messed it all up he did it again and
I was blown away literally at that point
in my life my entire estate was ten
dollars
I gave him my entire estate for the
greatest shoe shine that I had ever had
on this day with you guys have been in
New York City you know how it is you’re
always looking up at the sky scrapers
right because it’s amazing but on this
day not only did I photograph my shoe
I’m walking through New York City going
oh oh oh that’s what that guy did for me
I’m in class that day and I’m sitting
there I’m like that’s great
what did what did you say professor
right I mean that just blew me away
art as I can you know as I know this is
the abbreviated lecture I have a nice
for our talk that I would love to give
someday can do many things another great
thing that art did for me was taught me
about grandeur about this
this painting is in Brooklyn Museum of
Art it’s by a German painter Albert
Bierstadt these paintings were the star
wars of the day that are the huge
blockbusters if you will people paid
money just to go sit in front of it for
you know five or six minutes what I
loved about this and what I never had in
my life
were these soaring juxtapositions the
verticals the horizontal is the water
the desert the the Sun the clouds all of
these juxtapositions a million of them
provide you know put this sublimity
inside me that I had to see in my own
life so remember I’m living in New
Jersey once again and so one January I
spent 30 sunrises in New Jersey it’s
cold I was up on this hill that I had to
actually climb to I had a I one of those
wet water suits because it was so cold
up there but the clarity of the skyline
of New York City was absolutely
incredible and so for 30 days I
literally took 10,000 pictures of the
New York City skyline from this vantage
point and that forever changed me I
developed the Sun the sunrise philosophy
of life that if you get up and watch the
Sun Rise chances are you’re going to
have a good day right I never would have
done any of this if it were not for that
original spark art I mean I took so many
I have so many of these I can just keep
going on and on and on but there was
another aspect of this painting this
peak that we see here in the background
it actually exists it’s 30 miles outside
of Denver and it’s called Mount Evans
the artist who painted this painting was
the first to ever summit that peak today
it’s a great tourist attraction 30 miles
outside of Denver it’s what’s called the
highest auto pass in all of North
America so it’s the highest paved road
that you can drive to it’s about 14,000
feet higher than anything in New York
higher than anything in Alaska anywhere
so one of the great things that I
it was started 7,000 feet and in the
summer and you ride your bike for two
excruciating hours and you pass the snow
and you arrive at the top in the winter
again I never would have done anything
like this if it were not for art art for
me has not only been a spark but it has
been a boom that has redounded
throughout my entire life I hope that
you go out tonight find an artwork
that’s you like hanging on your wall
live with it
drink some wine to it and let that art
work ignite a spark in you thank you [Applause]