Sean Bradley
Occupation – Musician
Location – Los Angeles
Sean is a rare breed of artist – one who so meticulously contrasts a keen understanding and appreciation for technique with a sound resolve for conceptualizing and tangibly exploring uncharted territory through his art. Sean is one of the most eclectic people I have the honor of knowing – a former Army Ranger, a scholar, a classical musician, and a promoter of the arts. He could write the book on finding an abundance of expression through ethic. I had the pleasure of asking Sean why he chooses art and documenting his statement.
Sean told We Choose Art:
With art, as in all things, it’s important to understand that the map is not the territory.
I make music, and I believe the purpose of music is extramusical. In other words: I propose art exists not solely for art’s sake, but, more importantly, as a catalyst for transcendence. For me, the art of making music is a ritual incantation and evocation that calls us together in a shared and mystical experience that reveals connections to one another and to a higher power.
I believe art and music in particular affords the artist a means to record and broadcast the essence of his or her personality and spirit across generations.
Great composers succeed in uploading themselves into the quantum fabric of our collective cultural consciousness…and, thus, the act of composing music can be considered a type of astral projection unhinged from the limits of time. When done right, it’s as close as humans can come to immortality. I find this to be a very beguiling notion. It suggests to me each of us is more than the sum of our flesh and bones. For me, practically, as the result of direct and repeated contact with this phenomenon, I find myself transformed by music with all the potency of a religious faith.
Music is truly miraculous, and in it, I find salvation. That’s all the reason I need… The origins and reasons for creative human expression are very mysterious and very old; and these, I believe, are shared by everyone regardless of the age and context into which they are born. As a species, we likely learned to sing before or concomitantly with learning to speak, At one time, perhaps, there was likely little division between these two acts of expression. I hear bullfrogs croak and coyotes howl, and speculate our human voices, and the rhythm of their use, evolved similarly from a more direct relationship with Nature. Surely, our very DNA asserts the capacity and desire to create. Hence, I propose where art is concerned, even though the map may not be the territory, it is most certainly the best tool by which we may find our way home. Art, and the deliberate act of making it, exercises an internal compass which guides the migration of all humans to a more evolved and conscious state of being.
