GC Myers- Blaze, 2014
In everyone’s life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.
–Albert Schweitzer, Memoirs of Childhood and Youth (1925)
I was looking at the painting above, Blaze, here in the studio the other day. I do that quite often with this particular piece, probably more than any painting that has returned to me after spending time out in the galleries.
It has a life force that seems to speak to me as clearly and directly as any piece. I guess that shouldn’t come as a surprise since it is my painting.
It should speak clearly and directly to me, right?
Well, not necessarily. As I have pointed out before, every painting takes on its own spirit and even though they originate within me, they sometimes end up dwelling well beyond me. I don’t know that I can explain that in a coherent fashion. It’s more gut feeling than intellectual thought. Hard to explain one’s gut feelings.
I’ve shared this 2014 painting a couple of times here before and each time have included the words above from Albert Schweitzer. It occurred to me that this painting might in some way act as a surrogate for those people who have rekindled my own inner spirit, as Schweitzer put it.
Maybe that is the thing within it that so draws me to it?
Maybe. I don’t know.
I also came across another passage from Schweitzer that might apply here as well:
All art speaks in signs and symbols. No one can explain how it happens that the artist can waken to life in us the existence that he has seen and lives through. No artistic speech is the adequate expression of what it represents; its vital force comes from what is unspoken in it.
Hmm. Something to think about.
Here’s a song that might adequately fill out today’s triad of word, image and music. The song is way beyond adequate, a favorite that I’ve played a few times over the years. Here’s Higher Ground from the great Stevie Wonder.
It’s sure to rekindle your fire. How could it not, with a chorus like this:
I’m so darn glad He let me try it again‘Cause my last time on earth, I lived a whole world of sinI’m so glad that I know more than I knew thenGonna keep on tryin’‘Til I reach my highest ground
Now, get out of here. Go find your own higher ground…
Redtree Times 