Salvation
I've been in the studio a lot lately... thinking about the show coming up in February. For that show, I'm only going to bring sculptural items.
It's funny, because in order to produce work that I feel good about, I have to block out all feeling stressed about the show, or thinking about what people might enjoy seeing... so that I can end up with something that feels honest to me and my inspiration. I don't know if that makes any sense. Another thing I've stopped doing is looking at the portfolios of the other artists who will be at the show. I started to do that, and quickly started to compare myself to them,,, which becomes an exercise in being self-critical. So I decided to stop. Instead, I started reading, to get closer to the stories and mythologies that fuel my art.
The book I'm reading now is called The Mystic Heart by Wayne Teasdale. It's an inspiration for me. It talks about images and beliefs from different world religions and how there is really a common ground between them upon which we can live our lives... there is a path... not necessarily on th path set out be each religion (because this works for many people but not for all) but in the ground laid when all of these landscapes are set overlapping each other.
That got me thinking about what was important in the religion of my childhood... and how much importance is given to "salvation" and "being saved" and how, in the thinking into which I was born, there was one way... only way. And with that storm of thought going through my mind, I started to paint... red. Red with lots of black... lots of paper... lot sof messiness. The canvas (wood panel) was a real mess... and then I started cleaning things up. But, in the vein of my thoughts, I promised myself I wouldn't be concerned about having clean lines, or with it being pretty. And to my surprise, I found the product to be very pleasing. It's a portrait of a messy, sometimes confusing, sometimes dark, sometimes hopeful world journey from my conceptions of the past to what they will be in the future.
I called it The Nature of Salvation. It's 24" x 24". Housepaint on wood panel, with layers of paper and found objects. That is a little homemade ladder in the upper right corner...
It's about a journal, but it's not without a home... see it at the base of that arc? That's where I grew up... where the journey began...
And so, in the telling of this set of feelings and the reliving of a heavy theme from my past, there was a catharsis. I let something go... I said something. And the minute I said it, it was done, the energy in me spent for this topic. So, I decided to let it go. It's on EBAY.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=008&item=180038585135&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT&rd=1
If it sells, I hope it speaks to someone in a way that is important for them. If it doesn't sell, I'll put it back in my studio, and refer back to it when the dialogue resurfaces for me... as I'm sure it will...