It’s less than a week before I deliver my show to the Kada Gallery in Erie and it’s also the last week leading up to the 2010 elections so I am filled with dread on two fronts. The dread that comes with finishing my works and being ready to show is easy to deal with by simply putting down my head and shutting out distractions from the outside world. It’s also how I’ll try to get through this last week of politicking in the media, with all the mostly negative campaign ads, partisan analysis and unending polling.
It was with this in mind that I titled this painting from the upcoming show. A 12″ by 24″ canvas with a calm and confident air about it, I titled this piece Above Cynicism. This piece reminded me in tone of a small painting that I did many years ago that I entered in a regional show. It took one of the top prizes and gave me the first glimpse that I could succeed with my work. It was titled The Sky Doesn’t Pity. The idea behind the title was that the natural elements simply exist and are not subject to human qualities, good or bad. There is no pity, no shame, no hatred in the sun, the wind or the rain. They simply are.
Oh, there are times when they seem to punish us, when floods wash us away or snow buries us, but it is only our own selfish trait of defining everything as it pertains to our existence. The elements only do what they do. The rain and snow falls, the winds blow and the sun shines. Without emotion or bias.
That is pure truth.
That’s what I see in this piece. The central figure is high above the surrounding landscape, exposed to the elements but free from the tentacles of human traits such as envy, hatred and anger. It is peace in that it is simply what it is.
No argument. No hyperbole. No politics.
Light fills the sky and clouds trail across it, carried by a cool breeze. It is a moment that is what it can only be. Perfect.
Redtree Times 