I know it is nearly Spring, and my local gallery the Wurtsboro Art Alliance was probably going to have a Spring-themed show planned. But I was in no mood to exhibit images of pretty flowers and greening landscapes. I’m holding two artworks I created at two completely different times in my life. The first ink and brush work (originally on paper) is called “Holocaust”, and was created by a teen-aged version of myself after visiting the Holocaust Museum Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, Israel.
The other work is a digital drawing (iPad) of a mother running from danger with her two children, entitled “Refugees”. I created this drawing only a few years ago, after watching some news clips on the immigrant crisis on our southern border. This mother was running from the border patrol, but it could have been a mother in Gaza or a mother in Ukraine fleeing a combat zone, looking for shelter for her children.
As I see it, Artists have at least one clear job on Earth during their lifetimes: To express the things that humans feel deeply about and have an emotional need to fulfill. Our job is to reflect what we see and feel, to share it with as many people as possible, to give other humans something to focus on when things are difficult, to give humans ideas that opens their minds, to offer the distracted something to meditate on and quiet themselves, or just to present to humans some serious Truths to contemplate for a short moment in time.
This holiday, try open your hearts completely for just a few minutes to the needs to humans who are helpless, who are targeted by sheer accident, who are innocents that are caught in the cross-fire, and who are unable to protect themselves. Feel for them. It’s the least you can do, for just a moment.
If you desire a print you can purchase it and arrange delivery with the link to the left. If you have any questions, you can email me here>
“Holocaust”
