Untitled 2021

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'Untitled 2021'.  Oil on canvas on aluminum composite panel, 16 by 28 inches unframed, 21 by 33 inches framed.  Completed November 2021.

This painting is the first of a series which attempt to make some sense of the covid-19 pandemic and our responses to it.  This painting started as an admonition to America, saying: 'Get over yourself.  Do your part.  Go get vaccinated.  You can still be an individual, you can still do your thing:)'  As the painting progressed the characters were having so much fun with themselves I thought that a title would only take away from the scene.

There is a wonderful poem, 'Pandemic', written by Lynn Unger early in 2020, from which these lines come:

Know that we are connected

in ways that are terrifying and beautiful.

(You could hardly deny it now.)

Know that our lives

are in one another's hands

(Surely, that has come clear).

Brene Brown talked about connection after her Houston home flooded during Tropical Storm Harvey in 2017.  She observed that the "Louisiana Navy" of private boats showed up on their own initiative, at their own expense, moved hundreds of families, and rescued thousands of dollars of possessions without once asking, "Who did you vote for?"  That's it.  That is community.  We don't have to look alike or act alike.  We don't even have to like each other.  We just have to recognize that we are together in this.