I Am Not A Corgi

Politics and social activism are pretty much two sides of the same coin, like abstact styles and representational styles in painting. In politics, it comes down to a question: Which approach should we chose: Force or Persuasion? This question is neither easy nor comfortable to answer.

Painting has such a question, a silent querry every mural and canvas, every mosaic and window and even the omnipresent electronic screen. But, am I addressing the collective soul like a corgi herding cattle or am I engaging an individual in conversation?

That is a question for each artist to answer; but, it’s not what I am pondering.

What you are being asked, you standing there in front of the screen or stained glass window or canvas, what is the art asking you? It’s your’s to share or keep to yourself. The important thing for me, the artist, is: what is my question? If I find it, then it leads to more questions, one of which is yours.

“Endless questioning” - I think this line of thought leads to: Artists are the Toddlers of civilization.

The Wood Chopper - George Innes, 1849, The painting is currently at the Cleveland Museum of Art, which is source of this image.