Seth’s ‘origin story’ is quite fascinating and unique:
“In a former life, I was a psychologist, and I worked for quite a number of years at one of the major hospitals in New York City.
I was never interested in art as a kid. I didn’t take classes. It just was not something on my radar, although living in New York, I love and I used to go to galleries and museums.
Then in 2001, 9/11 happened. I was working in a hospital at that point, and it had a huge impact on my life and the way I saw things. I realised that things can change on a dime and that it was time to explore avenues that I had been putting off.
I started to do a lot of things that I hadn’t done. One was starting my own private practice. I also started to travel a lot more extensively. I spent some time first in Portland, Oregon, then in Seattle, Washington and then in Vancouver, Canada.
When I went to Canada towards the end of one trip, I was walking down a street and saw an art gallery that had just struck me. I went into the gallery, and I was just completely gobsmacked by the art that was there.
It was mixed media art, but it was different from what I had seen before. It was abstract. It was textural. It was encaustic and concrete and just so beautiful and very serene. So I asked the woman at the gallery if she could tell me about the artist. And it turns out that the woman at the gallery was not only the gallery owner but the artist herself—Patricia Larson.
She was a very compelling person. We spent maybe about an hour together, and we just really connected. I bought a few small pieces, came home, and returned to life as usual.
About three weeks later, I received a handmade postcard from Patricia in the mail. First of all, I was really touched that she would take the time to send me a postcard. I thought that was so sweet that I had to do something. I decided I needed to make a postcard and mail it back to her. I sent it, and I thought that was the end of the story.
About a week or so later, she sent me something else in the mail. And it was this little abstract painting on a book page in watercolour. So I went into a shop and got a little kid’s watercolour kit, and I copied what she did, and I mailed it back to her.
And wouldn’t you know it? A week later, she sent me this tiny little book. And this just went on for years. She was in Vancouver, and I was in New York, and we developed what I learned later was a ‘mail art’ relationship.
This, to me, was an entree and an education into the art world. In the beginning, it was stressful and daunting, but after a while, it became so much fun. I couldn’t wait till she sent me something.
Life took me in a different direction than I would have expected. Patricia completely changed my life; she is still a very good friend.”
From there, Seth transitioned to life as an artist. When it comes to his previous career as a psychologist, he believes art is definitely connected to the human state of being.
“For so many people, art is therapy. People always talk about how art, creativity, and connection with other artists have saved them.
For me, the way I create is to work in layers. People often say, “Why do you bother painting that first layer of blue when you know it’s going to be completely covered?”
I always have a psychological answer; to me, my art reflects what we are as people. There are so many layers. There’s an outer surface, which would be the finished piece of art, or kind of what you see right here, but who we are as people and what our piece is, is based on history. It’s based on all the layers and things you don’t see.