Happiness depends upon ourselves. As the disciple of Plato, he followed and expanded on many of his philosophies, digging deeper into the topics of human nature, ethics and moral dilemmas; we too should dig deeper. into existing ideas and philosophies, so as to understand better ourselves and others.

Artist: Tomas

ABOUT THE ARTIST TOMAS: I am from Planet Earth. I have lived in many countries and taken influence from each and every one. My goal is to show the beauty of the world through my art. I do that through artistically expressing everything I believe and feel, but ultimately, I want my viewers to make up their own minds. I constantly try to get a new perspective of the world by conversing and connecting with people who view the world differently. The skateboarding and surfing communities are two groups I am particularly influenced by. I try to mirror that through my work. Although communities and people influence my mindset and my approach to art, I cannot identify a spe-cific artist that has significantly influenced my work. Rather, my work is a conglomerate of the people, communities, and artists around me and their unique qualities that I tend reflect in my work. I do not feel comfortable calling myself an artist (in a professional sense, that is). Neither do I have the desire to. As a matter of fact, I would prefer not to be called an artist. It adds unwant-ed pressure that could negatively impact my work. For example, when I worked as a chef, I lost my love for cooking due to the pressures associated with the job. Similarly, when I got spon-sored as a skater, there was this constant urge to be someone that I am not. But my art is me. It is the one place I go to and can freely express myself without judgement. Because it is some-thing that I love to do in my own time, I do not care about whether people like it or not. My art is for me. It helps me deal with myself. For this reason, I do not deliberately seek out opportuni-ties. I enjoy the process and when an opportunity arises, I take it and I give it my all because at the end of the day, I am doing it for myself and for my betterment.