There is No Other Way, 2023
Acrylic, enamel on canvas
40 x 30 in./ 30 x 40 in.
This is an image map of my life and the blocks therein. Although the expression is personal, the themes are universal.
The mind is a complicated computer. It is the filtering device in how we perceive reality. And yet we are still discovering its properties and how to best manage it.
Unlike a home computer where one can access 'true' data on command, the mind can bury unpleasant memories or create a filter of wearing rose colored glasses, or anything in between.
In There is No Other Way, I wanted to re-create the holographic universe in the way the mind may perceive time and space. Or the way my mind may perceive these vectors towards people I have loved.
There are eight total individuals represented here. Every turn of the canvas reveals an individual or two. And every turn is made to be the proper position to view the painting since it is omnipresent. Every direction, all at once.
There is a realistic portrayal of the the esteemed singer, Beyoncé. At the time of this painting she was the peak of the commercial and artistic zeitgeist. It an ideal that at one time I aspired to.
Some of the figures are only represented as outlines, intertwining with other outlines. Reminiscent of dense city map, a ball of yarn yet to be unspooled, or looking up at a tree with all of its branches of growth splaying out all over the sky.
The slight yellow rectangles represent depth and the possibly zooming in and out of focus and/or time.
The centered white circle provides a template for direction. Akin to a light at the end of a tunnel.
The black splotches are personal trauma blocks and self sabotage. Life is a river that flows, and like every river, there are boulders where the water will have to go around.
And the reason for the title, There is No Other Way, is that despite failure or feeling where love is lost, there is no other way but to move forward and believe again.
Or you could choose death.
