Steadfast– At the Principle Gallery, June 2022
Be still, my heart; thou hast known worse than this. On that day when the cyclops, unrestrained in fury, devoured the mighty men of my of my company; but still thou didst endure till thy craft found a way for thee forth from out the cave, where thou thoughtest to die.
― The Odyssey
I thought I would make an effort to write this morning by focusing on the last small piece which was completed only yesterday for my upcoming June show at the Principle Gallery.
There’s something about the last piece finished for any show that interests me. They often clearly reflect my feelings at that moment when I am coming off a period of intense and concentrated work and have begun to think not about process, but about possible reaction (or non-reaction) to the work. Think is not the right word here. It should be worry or doubt, things I have discussed here many times before.
Going from this internal process of creating the work to the external act of sharing creates a sort of whiplash. The internal part succeeds in satisfying my own needs, in filling emotional and spiritual voids within. It creates a framework and form from which I can make sense of my life and this world.
It is what I need to sustain myself internally.
Going from that way of viewing the work to presenting it to others outside myself with the hope of gaining their approval and patronage creates a great deal of turmoil in my psychic network. This is the place where the worry and doubt from above come into the picture.
Does my own perception of the work jibe with that of those who might view it? Have I overestimated it and by extension, myself?
It’s a time of anxiety in my small world. But experience has taught me that I must just hold tight on to my belief in the work, that it has intrinsic worth and will at some point move beyond fulfilling my needs alone.
And this is what this smaller new painting represents for me. It’s 6″ by 12″ on panel and is titled Steadfast.
I see it as being about having a certain toughness, a quality of endurance that I esteem greatly in people. It’s the ability to persevere and adapt, to be knocked around but keep moving forward.
And when the big winds come, you hold tight and wait for them to die down. Steadfast. Then you get to doing what needs to be done.
Redtree Times 