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Jason Voos
Hatteberg's People
Reporter: Larry Hatteberg
| April 20, 2003--Wichitan Jason Voos has not had an easy life. He lives in a world created by pain. He lives through his art, an existence created by necessity. Yet there is no bitterness, instead a joy. On Hatteberg's People, an artist whose pain feeds his creativity. |
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"Once you've experienced what I've experienced, you take nothing for granted."
His work is powerful. Whether on canvas or computer, this young artist takes you to the soul of his subject's existence. |
"This is my escape, this is how I basically live. I go where ever I'm painting."
Just looking at Jason Voos, you would never know there is a problem. It was his love, or better yet, the 'joy' of high school football that changed his life. |
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Two concussions within a week, gave him a life-long brain injury.
"But I chose not to feel sorry for myself."
For over a decade, Jason has been in constant riveting pain and you can see it in his work. On a one to ten scale, his pain is at a seven or eight. Many mornings he spends hours vomiting. He also has double vision. |
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"Are you going to do something, or are you going to lay around and just wither. I picked a different route."
His route is through his fog of pain where he has created his 'art' world, because his life is limited in the 'normal' world. |
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"It's kind of like a musical artist, they don't write a song unless their heart gets broken. God blessed me with so much pain, I definitely never have to worry about inspiration."
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Pain, he says, is the fuel that feeds his creative fire; he calls 'art' his form of meditation.
"Where I draw my painting and inner peace from is from a 'spiritual' place. Those seeds are planted and I've watered them and it's where I go for my peace when I paint."
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In a sense, the accident may have developed the artistic portion of his brain, pushing his creative senses to a higher level.
"It's enabled me to escape and handle the cards that I was dealt." |
| His work is being exhibited in world capitols, but not yet in Wichita. But where is most important, is that there is not bitterness, in some ways, Jason is overjoyed it wasn't worse. |
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| "I'm just glad that I'm here and I have a healthy mother. You're only as great as the circle of people who you surround yourself with, and I have a good support group. My belief in God just keeps me straight." |
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This story only scratches the surface of Jason's gift. But it is a story that has lessons for all who stop to listen.
Don't give up. No matter how bad life can be, you can survive and more than that....you can achieve. |
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| Larry's Note: For more information on Jason Voos, you may contact him
through his web site at: www.jasonvoos.com |
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