Empowered Art Warrior (Tony Viber)
@empoweredartwarrior
I am Empowered Art Warrior (Tony Viber was official art name till 2017 spring) – An independent artist, who is trying to overcome the vanity of the modern world; with the help of a spatula and color. I was born in Siauliai, a small town in Lithuania. In 2010, at the age of 26, and after completing my Master's in Philosophy, I left everything and everyone in Lithuania and went to live in London, with the hope of finally ‘finding myself. Though I was in London for a year it never felt like it might become ‘home’ & I seemed to be just living someone else’s life …. So, I made the decision to return to Lithuania. A few months later, in 2012, I was once again packing my few belongings to move again: this time to Moscow - I believed it would be the best place for me to extend my knowledge about me, the World and life itself: by studying for a PHD in Hermeneutics (the art & science of the multiple ways of understanding reality) at Lomonosov Moscow State University. By 2014 (after 18mths of study) I felt I'd got everything I need from Hermeneutics for my inner growth and self-understanding; so I left MSU & began to concentrate on my painting. When I first went to Moscow my involvement in art was something I never expected - it just hit me with all its strength … like a bolt from the blue. I discovered the power to create ‘Souls’ in early 2013, and in less than a year I’d finished my first series of 21 Souls. By 2014 I felt the necessity to change the format of Souls to something bigger, creating a few more before needing to take a break. So,I returned to Lithuania, and from summer 2014 till the summer of2015, I only managed to finish one more ‘Soul’. Once again, I felt that I’d lost myself and did not understand the World or the true purpose of Art anymore. In early 2014, in order to renew my understanding about myself and the World, I became deeply involved in Life Coaching. I completed a number of courses, read dozens of books and began to practice Self-Understanding and Revealing Techniques - ultimately helping a number of people to re-discover their purpose in life. In turn, this helped me to rediscover my own inspiration and start to paint again! Through my coaching sessions I also met my ‘true love’ … which, in turn, eventually brought me to Dubai (UAE), in the summer of 2015. Since then till year 2016 I’ve created 9 Souls. In 2016 severe sickness came into my life. I was confined to bed for four months, from March to July. During that period, I only painted once; it was Soul, No 37 - Night Sky’s Soul. After completing the painting, I immediately collapsed back into bed.Doctors couldn’t work out what was wrong with me. The pain was enormous. I had arthritis throughout my body, which made every movement extremely painful. Added to this was a constant and chronic weakness, as well as a persistent high temperature. At the time, I had very little hope of ever fully recovering. In desperation, I left Dubai and went back to my parent’s house in Lithuania. I was anxiously searching for a way to recover my health, so I could lead a normal life again.Imagine a young artist, 32 years of age, lying in bed with no ability to move without pain. An artist who was dreaming…longing for the day when he would be able to get out of bed and be healthy…with the ability to create and release new Souls paintings. These Souls would positively affect the minds of people, making the world a better place. It took four months and a combination of my strong desire to live, positive thinking and daily visualizations, to bring me back to life – and to give me another chance to create more honest and pure art. Since that time, I have created a dozen new Souls. Now I suddenly feel the passion, inspiration and enthusiasm to produce still more of these works of art… This inspiration-passion-creativity impels my hands to transfer meanings, through shape & color, on to canvas; simply by setting my mind free and letting that power embody new ‘Souls’. How to explain Souls: The paintings aren't plain & simple: they do not reveal truth in only one possible way. On the contrary, each viewer's own inner-self determine which images or emotions they’ll receive from each painting. To get a really deep understanding of my paintings it can take sometimes - hours, days, even weeks or months of regular contact with the paintings, to gain an understanding & to fully ‘connect’ with what is being conveyed.
