Let’s continue —
The majority of the paintings in this series (I’ve completed 39) feature one or more human figures. Most viewers spend more time on those – because they can identify with the humans, and/or can easily create a narrative about the humans. I have heard wonderful, amazing narratives that viewers have created – some have awed me.
Take a look at The Impossibility of Knowing (10) , shown below. What narrative do you create when you see this?
I wanted to evoke
embodiment and disembodiment,
present and future,
past and present,
wondering which figures “see” which figures.
Well, I knew that much when I painted it. Recently, I’ve asked myself to think more deeply.
These paintings emphasize the fleeting nature of the moment and of the current setting, by showing the prospect of the figure(s) not being present. But then, all paintings, drawings, and photos emphasize the fleeting nature of the moment and of the current setting.
This is more obvious in figurative or representational renderings — we know that we’re looking at a streetscape, landscape, or mother and child, and we know that this scene existed at some point and place (at least in the artist’s mind), but don’t exist now.
I think that’s one of the reasons we love images of children.
We are in awe of their child-ness, and
we know that the people in the image are probably no longer children, certainly not children of the age we’re viewing.
We’re wistful for their growing older and dying, and for our own growing older and dying.