Redtree Times

Comes a Stranger— Soon at Principle Gallery

A world that can be explained even with bad reasons is a familiar world. But, on the other hand, in a universe suddenly divested of illusions and lights, man feels an alien, a stranger. His exile is without remedy since he is deprived of the memory of a lost home or the hope of a promised land. This divorce between man and his life, the actor and his setting, is properly the feeling of absurdity.

—Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus (1942)

I have a lot to do this morning as I prep some work that will be coming with me for my Gallery Talk on Saturday down in Alexandria at the Principle Gallery. In addition to framing and all the other tasks that go along with it, I am also trying to mentally prepare for the talk itself.

I go over the possibilities of how it could go, different paths I could follow as far as theme and tone. Anything that will keep me from standing up there like a wooden statue, unable to reach out and connect with the audience in any way.

Maybe the theme will focus on that feeling of being the Stranger who is forever trying to find home, that place where they belong. That is the theme for the blog today as well as for the new small painting at the top, Comes a Stranger. This 8″ by 8″ canvas is included in the group I will be bringing.

Though I have no idea if it will happen, using the Stranger as a theme makes sense in some ways. It’s something on which I can speak easily, having often felt the part. It also plays an important element in my work as I sometimes see my created landscapes as being the homeland I seek as the Stranger.

But that’s just one possibility out of many. The folks who are sitting there will have a major influence on what the talk consists of and where it goes. I won’t know with any degree of certainty until Saturday, right around 1 PM. Then all bets are off.

Here’s a song to complete the triad for today’s theme. It’s a very good cover of the old Kinks song, Strangers, from the Black Pumas. Good stuff.

REMINDER

What:  GALLERY TALK

Who:   With GC MYERS

Where: PRINCIPLE GALLERY, Alexandria VA

When: SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, Beginning at 1 PM

Why:  It’s free and open to all, fun, informative, and there will be a free drawing for the painting below, On the Rise–and maybe even another one!

All this and more!

On the Rise– You Could Win This Painting!