Spirits of the New Year...
The universe is made of art, not matter. Atoms are merely the brushstrokes, the means of expressing the idea. It was the idea that burst from nothing. It exploded and formed atoms—particles of matter that swirled and tumbled and filled the idea with art. Glorious art. Never static. Never still. It is the connection with the supernatural.
Maybe art, real art, is too much to think about. Too much to see. We are long out of the trees and into cold hard reality, so maybe we don’t need the magic of art and imagination. Yeah, we’ve advanced beyond all that. We don’t need optical illusions and the pretense that a flat surface is any thing more than a two-dimensional shape.
Yeah we do. Without imagination and creativity we become less human. We may be receding. Retrogressing. Without art, we are merely simians with laptops.
Nature is made of beauty. Wonder. It is an idea so immense it can overwhelm and disappear in the begoggled mind of the beholder. But when hope seems lost or the tragedies of the past—what we call PTSD—climb out of the mental box we keep them in, a hurricane of darkness and despair can engulf us. But humans have been allowed to encounter the idea in tiny but ever expanding amounts. It has been a glimpse of universal time, forever brightening as we grow and expand in the idea.
We are able to think beyond the immediate and nibble at its edge. Why us? We don’t know. Some magic has lifted us—allowing thoughts so large, so frightening that they are usually put away—locked in a dim vault in the mind and permitted only occasional contemplation. But when we do—when we give ourselves enough time to think and figure things out, the vision becomes clearer.
This is a painting I did many years ago when the Capitol was for me a hopeful place full of ideas about freedom and American fulfillment. I was beginning a new year and the Capitol seemed to be glistening with wonderment and watched over by spirits.
Now, we have to be the spirits and bring old ideas about freedom to the New Year. I’m looking forward to your thoughts and ideas.