Below is a small doorway into my imagination, courtesy of my sketchbook.
I think the closest to truly being able to understand a person comes from seeing their drawings as a child, before they either lose their interest in art, or are too embarassed to go with their gut feeling. In my mind this is also why some really great art is child-like. Good artists can remake a picture with impecable accuracy, great artists aren't afraid to go back to basics. Great artists aren't chained to the restraints of the material world, they make art that lives within its own.
Take for example the art of Christo and Jeanne Claude (http://www.christojeanneclaude.net/index.shtml). Christo is known for draping enormous monuments in spools of decadent fabrics. From all angles his pieces are seen from, they offer a feel of impossibility and fantasy. Many of his pieces have been controversial but with his wife, Jeanne Claude by his side, he has faced every obstacle.
Another example of this fantasy art that I appreciate is that of Shel Silverstein (Official Silverstein Site). The children's author and lyricist illustrates all his own books with fantastic creatures seemingly straight out of a dream. He is completely unafraid to put the creatures in his head onto paper; a quality that I genuinely admire.
I know that both of these artists have their faults. Since the recent death of his wife, Christo has begun planning a new piece, draping many miles of a river in cloth, potentially damaging the surrounding ecosystem permanently. Obviously he has had trouble drumming up support for such a dangerous task, and is still working on the permits. Shel Silverstein has been accused of having a very disturbing criminal past. Even with their problems, both of these men are critically thinking, imaginative geniuses and in my opinion, some of the best artistic minds of our time.
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