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Posts Tagged ‘The Byrds’

Wherever the Wind Takes Me

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on May 15, 2025| 5 Comments »

Wherever the Wind Takes Me – At Principle Gallery, June 2025

It’s hard to tell the difference between sea and sky, between voyager and sea. Between reality and the workings of the heart.

–Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore

This was one of the first pieces completed for my upcoming Principle Gallery exhibit. It pretty much sent me in the direction that had me deciding to focus on the unity and interconnectedness of all energy and things as the theme for the show. It was the painting that spawned the idea of Entanglement as the show’s title. It’s been a favorite for me here in the studio over the seven months or so since it emerged.

It’s called Wherever the Wind Takes Me and is 15″ by 30″ on canvas. The title implies a journey or voyage of some sort and that’s true for the most part. My take on it is that there are all sorts of journeys, some that take you outward to distant shores and some that take you inward to equally distant shores within yourself. Both offer the potential for adventure and discovery of something new and perhaps life-altering.

The other thing that comes to mind for me from this painting, even in its title, is that we often go on such journeys without knowing what it is that we seek. And that is just as it should be because we often can’t recognize what it is that we most need. We think we know but we are often mistaken, especially when our conscious mind has not yet opened and melded with the greater entanglements that surround us.

It is then, when we journey– inward or outward without expectation of answers or discovery–that we may learn what it is that we need most.

It is then that the Entanglement will guide us– in the form of the wind in this painting– to what it is that we unknowingly seek.

In this case, the wind knows just what that is.

That might not make sense to you. It often doesn’t make sense to me. That makes me think I might be on the right track. The wind will let me know…

Here’s a tune that has been in my mind since I woke up this morning and it kind of fits. Kind of. The song is from The Byrds, their cover of Dylan’s You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere.

Entanglement opens Friday, June 13 at the Principle Gallery with an Opening Reception from 6-8:30 PM. I will also be giving a Painting Demonstration at the gallery on the following day, Saturday, June 14, from 11 AM until 1 PM.

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Hoffer/ Absolutes

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on April 18, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Seeking Imperfection– 2001

Free men are aware of the imperfection inherent in human affairs, and they are willing to fight and die for that which is not perfect. They know that basic human problems can have no final solutions, that our freedom, justice, equality, etc. are far from absolute, and that the good life is compounded of half measures, compromises, lesser evils, and gropings toward the perfect. The rejection of approximations and the insistence on absolutes are the manifestation of a nihilism that loathes freedom, tolerance, and equity.

–Eric Hoffer, The Temper of Our Time (1967)

Several times I’ve shared the words of Eric Hoffer, the Longshoreman Philosopher as he was sometimes called who died in 1983 at the age 80. He had a way of stating complex idea in a straightforward manner. His 1951 book The True Believer, which sets out his theories on the rise of mass movements– most notably extreme political movements and cults– and the dangers they pose, is widely considered a classic of social psychology. You can read it and see many parallels to the

This particular passage spoke to me immediately when I came across it a few years back. It was something that seemed to be proving itself in real time with what we were and are experiencing here. It is a situation that might be described simply as a struggle between those who see things only in absolute terms and those who understand that there are few if any absolutes in an imperfect world such as ours.

A battle between unfounded certainty and founded uncertainty. True belief and true doubt.

Needless to say, Hoffer’s passage felt spot on for me, a creature who dwells in uncertainty. I could feel the truth in his words, particularly that last sentence: The rejection of approximations and the insistence on absolutes are the manifestation of a nihilism that loathes freedom, tolerance, and equity.

This one sentence might be the best description of the horror show we are experiencing first-hand.

Not sure why I am sharing this this morning. This passage has been sitting in my drafts file for a long time now and it just felt right this morning, a simple understanding of what we are witnessing, though I doubt any of you need to have it clarified for you.

Anyway, there it is. And here’s a song that speaks to uncertainty in equally simple terms. It’s What’s Happening?!?! by the Byrds from back in 1966, around the same time as Hoffer’s words. Nearly sixty years later and it is the same story. Nihilism then is nihilism now…

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Turn! Turn! Turn!

Posted in Favorite Things, Influences, Music, Video, tagged , , on January 28, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Pete SeegerPete Seeger died yesterday at the age of 94.  He had a pretty remarkable life, using the power of music as a hammer to pound against the powers of social injustice.  The thing that I admire most is his always evident conviction to whatever cause he was devoted.  For as gentle and jovial a man as he appeared to be, there was no wishy-washiness in Pete Seeger.  He always spoke the truth to power on the most pressing matters of the day– the labor movement, civil rights, the Viet Nam war and the environment.

Of course, anyone with such strong and visible views, wil have some controversy surrounding him and Seeger was no different.  He was blacklisted in the 1950’s for his early affiliation with Communism and his slowness to finally condemn Stalin followed him through the years.  But, to his credit, he did own up to his actions and admit mistakes when he felt they were made.  Probably more so than most of those in power would be willing to admit.

Of course, the music is the legacy of Pete Seeger.  Songs like If I Had a Hammer , Where Have All the Flowers Gone?  and Turn! Turn! Turn! have  all have been covered innumerable times, becoming so ingrained in the American songbook that it seems hard to believe that they weren’t written even longer ago than they were.  Well,  the lyrics of  Turn! Turn! Turn! were a bit earlier as they use the words from Ecclesiastes in the Bible.  I grew up with a single of the Byrds’ version of  Turn! Turn! Turn! never far away from our old stereo console and I still get a chill when I hear those opening chords and a little teary when I listen to the lyrics..

So, for  Pete Seeger, to every thing there is a season.  Thank you.

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Humble Home

Posted in Painting, Recent Paintings, tagged , , , on May 3, 2012| 4 Comments »

This is a new painting, a 16″ by 20″ canvas, that  I am calling Humble Home.  There’s a real crispness in the color of this piece, both in the clarity of the hues and in the way they react to one another.  It has, for lack of a better term, a real snap to it.

The form of this painting, the lone house  under a huge dome of  sky,  is one that I have revisited several times over the years.  The idea of a lone home standing against a vast sky always stirs emotion in me.  Their is a sense of grandeur and power in such a sky that gives one perspective on their own place and influence in this world.  However highly we esteem ourselves, we are indeed tiny before the sky and all its forces, both seen and unseen.  Thus the title, Humble Home.

But while the house here is humbled small beneath the forceful sky, it is no less confident of what it is at heart.  Humble does not mean a lack of confidence or a form of  servility.  It simply signifies a knowledge of things greater than one’s self.  The house here speaks of a solidness of belief  in one’s self and their place , however humble, in the great scheme of the universe.  It has purpose. 

It brings to mind the words from Ecclesiastes, or the Byrds if you prefer: To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven.

Turn, turn, turn…

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