Electro Dark Disco
24cm x 30cm
Mixed Media
2009
Not one of my most cheerful paintings to say the least! I don't know why but a couple of weeks ago I felt I just had to get this idea out of my system so I broke off from a much larger painting to do this.
The painting contains the first line of a poem by Constantine Cavafy called 'Walls'. I first read this poem about 20 years ago and it is one of those that has stuck in my mind. The first line goes "With no consideration, no pity, no shame, they've built walls around me, thick and high".
There are of course lots of circumstances that this can apply to - prisons in general, the Berlin Wall, Guantanamo Bay etc, etc. In my opinion these often demonstrate the worst of humanity. My other enduring thought about this poem though is about the rules that we often create for ourselves, often unnecessary and unhelpful, that can keep us locked within our own walls.
We all do it to some extent but it often strikes me that the walls we create in our minds prevent us from doing and exploring so many wondrous things. For example, it saddens me when people say that they have no imagination although such a notion is, of course, complete nonsense. For my part, I continue to learn in life and hope to do so until the say I die. My values may remain the same but my opinions always remain subject to change in the light of new information, experience, play and experimentation. I am not exactly "wall free" but would claim to be a very long way down that route. Do you have any thoughts on this?
My next picture - I hope - will be rather less serious!! I do like the colours of this one though and feel that I am fulfilling my objective of using a wider range of colours this year.
