January 11, 2013
… but not yet in depth, about these paintings, this exhibition project. If my mind were a light table, it would be stacked with disparate ideas superimposed one over the other – I’m squinting to see what composite images appear from behind and through – negative and positive.
A sample from the stack:
the distorted state of affairs in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Haiti, our own First Nations reserves in Canada (and in so many many more places), where the omnipotent western economic system farms its money with no regard for actual people and their well-being.
Poverty; violence and hatred over women & homosexuality; the broken bits & deep wounds we all have and are so tragically isolated by …
The mind-flipping, laugh-out-loud contortions of Toulouse-Lautrec, brilliantly comic (and deeply handsome) studio cat.
The dismal places where music and beauty never come – where, if these two things could take root they’d without a doubt seed miraculous change for the better.
The dark places where music and beauty DO come and seed miraculous change for the better.
The look on my dad’s face when we read poetry to him in honour of his 80th birthday; my smart, funny, decent, strong, compassionate kid.
The impossible, terrifying beauty of a huge storm; our bizarre and horrific love affair with weaponry that has no other purpose than to kill; the satisfaction of shoveling snow and making a clear, functional path.
All that is delightful, redeeming, miraculous, painful and inconvenient about being human.
I’m doing my very best to make art that is a good reflector for us all, including me. It’s taking a long, long time – far longer than I’d ever thought, but I will finish. This new show involves, but is not limited to china teacups (roof of our building, summer 2012).
These paintings had better be functional. As useful as the tools they describe, accurate in their reflection of the state of things so that sparks fly and conversations reach a different – deeper? resonance. This is what I’m going for – I’ll keep you in firmly in the loop.
studio shot of the latest development with ‘shovel’, Jan 2013
Shovel
Axe
Clamp
Hammer
screwdriver
Saw
… nail, spike, screwnail, scissors, pliers, vice grips, chair, pencil, needle, knife,
teacup, cooking pot, clock, harmonica, chair, sink, andiron …
Paintings & other explorations in honour of human beings and those ingenious tools we’ve devised –
Those ‘unplugged’ tools that require a learned skill, good strength,
and the will & compassion to make it better.
Happy new moon, all.
Your thoughts are welcome, since what we all do, knowingly or not, is collaborate.