The most interesting thing about art is not questions answered, but questions left unanswered. This painting was done on a large (about 5'x6') canvas, and believe it or not took me several months to paint from concept to completion. I think it'd be better to not say as much as possible right now about why I did it, but I will give you this small back story:
Several years ago, I interviewed my uncle for a class project, and one of the questions was "Where were you the day Kennedy was shot?". He told me that he was in class, I don't remember which grade, and they were watching coverage of the assassination on tv. At some point the teacher felt it prudent to turn off the tv, for whatever reason, so he/she did so and tried to start the lessons. My uncle told me that he got up in front of class and turned the tv back on, was not reproached or reprimanded, and the class continued watching the days events unfold.
Fast-forward to September 11, 2001: With the terrorist attacks weighing heavily in my mind, I walked into my senior civics class and watched the first tower fall on CNN. The other guys in the class, for it was an all-boys school, had mixed reactions. Some thought it was like watching a demolition show on the Discovery Channel. Some thought it was funny. The teacher came in, turned off the television, and told us about how worthless we would be if we didn't register to vote. Simply put, I didn't stand up to turn the tv back on.
That's one reason I painted this.
No comments:
Post a Comment