| March,
2004
Here
is a title that sounds a little like the Bob Dylan records in the
mid-1960s. Titles like "Someting Like Tom Thumb's Blues"
and "Approximately Queen Jane" were always just catchy
enough that I had to follow suit. Frost's "Something there
is that doesn't like a wall" is another line that comes to
mind. After all, this painting looks like a wall; a slab of sheetrock
with a sloppy coat of paint, or concrete. This is all about the
texture -- you just feel the roughness of the surface.
At
least, that's what it looks like to me. I originally wanted to color
it in, but the monochromatic grey stands out from the pack of my
digital paintings, so I left it as is. The idea of creating something
a little simpler, a little minimal, does interest me. I may do a
few more like this someday -- one can't take the Expressionist route
all the time.
Truth
be told, this is the same texture as the Metal series, which goes
to show you how much variety you can get with the same source materials.
In
these times, when the problems of the world seem to get worse, when
the Israeli government is erecting enourmous walls surrounding the
Occupied Territories, I'm reminded of the shallow comfort offered
by walls. I'm reminded of the day the Berlin Wall fell, and hoped
we would never again see The Wall. I'm reminded again of those words:
"Something there is that doesn't like a wall."
If
the darker impulses of human nature is to build walls, then it is
to our sense of hope that such walls can be torn down. |
