Muralist and music maker José Ray talks about how gratitude manifests in his life
Chances are, if you've caught a glimpse of a wildly colorful cascade of flowers painted across a brick wall, artist José Ray had a hand in it. His joyful large-scale works remind me of my favorite children's books from the early-'70s and never fail to bring a smile and a change of perspective on a drive that has tried my patience, which I've never had a deep well of anyway.
Where does his evident joy spring from, I wondered?
"I don’t know where it comes from. It is something I try to embrace and cultivate. I’ve always been interested in the Eastern philosophies ― Buddhism, Taoism. It’s just that simple, it almost sounds cliché: Cultivating gratitude makes your life better. The act of showing gratitude is what manifests.
It’s easy to get stuck in the loop of wanting more and needing more. Recently, I’ve gotten a lot more into breathwork and yoga ― that seems to really ground me and make me more perceptive to opportunity and wisdom from the world ― the ether ― around me.
Even as I was making it as an artist full time, there was always this dissonance in my head about losing it or its being taken away or of my not measuring up – that critic in there that we all have, which is part of our overwhelming modern world."
In between mural projects, he makes time to run around the woods with his Jack Russell-chihuahua mix and curating sets for parties and events all over town as a DJ. Afro-Latin rhythms are his jam.
"When I play some of these tracks... I see people moving," Ray says with glee. "There's something about the connection to us that is undeniable... I'm learning now how important they are to us."
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Muralist and music maker José Ray on gratitude
