Last year, I had a show at New Hope Arts Center. I did it as an experiment. I had no confidence, really, in my work. But I had an opportunity to show and I took it. Worst case scenario, I would have failed. Lost a little money. But I would have at least put myself out there and gotten some feedback on whether or not I should pursue art as a real thing and share it with others or maybe just keep it to myself.
I ended up selling over 30 works of art and having a blast.
So, I am doing it again. In May, I will be opening a new show at the “A” Space of New Hope Arts Center in New Hope, PA.
This year is different, however. The world has changed. I feel I need to say something, to dedicate some of my personal and artistic space to hope and transformation. To include messages of progress and inclusion. To discuss conscience. Last year, I focused on the joy of the human body and form. I focused on expression. This year, I will keep that focus, but also include some interactive pieces that hopefully will provoke thought and discussion.
Here’s a preview of one of the pieces that will be shown. It is called “Dead Stick Figures #2” There will be a series of images that show people in different emotional states in the foreground, while in the background, strewn among the landscape, are stick figures of dead people.
Under this image will be two pieces of text.
The first in bigger font will describe the main figure:
“Joseph does not belong. It’s 1995 and he’s a junior at a decent university. He’s been going to school with the same students for 3 years and he struggles every day with depression. He goes to the gym and works out. People approach him because he is good looking, but he cannot bring himself to look at them directly. He is abrupt and doesn’t know how to express his feelings. He comes across as very detached and unapproachable. He had friends in grade school. He played fantasy games with his buddies. But they outgrew fantasy before he did. He watched from a distance, sullen, jealous, as they got girlfriends and started playing different games. He does adequately in class. He doesn’t participate much, but he does his homework and he tests well. His roommate, Max, has tried to pull him out of his shell. Max has invited him to parties and encouraged him to date. Josef went to a couple of parties, but he didn’t like them. What was the point? He didn’t like the feeling of being drunk. And he judged the other people at the party. They were stupid. He’s attracted to a girl in his engineering class. She thinks he’s handsome, but he hasn’t asked her any questions about herself. It doesn’t even occur to him that he should. He’s really only interested in himself and what he wants. Sometimes he dreams he’s naked and the only person left living on the earth.”
The second text will be in smaller font will describe the background. It will say:
“In Bosnia, during the civil war that lasted from 1992 to 1995, an estimated 100,000 people were killed, 80% of whom were Bosniaks. In July 1995, Bosnian Serb forces killed as many as 8,000 Bosniak men and boys from the town of Srebrenica. It was the largest massacre in Europe since the Holocaust.”
Every day, somewhere in the world, there is a war going on. These wars do not take place in a vacuum. They are part of our every day life. They affect us. They seep in. We try not to think of them. Are we powerless, complicit, apathetic? What do we care about these people so far away? So different from us? This kind of thing could never happen here, could it? Or are the same seeds that foster the resentments that lead to armed conflict the same as the ones in our daily lives?
Both the main subject of the sketch and the background figures are dealing with being different, with alienation, with the isolation of not being able or willing to engage others. In the main figure’s case, it seems like a minor thing, something that he should and hopefully will get over. He’ll learn how to act and to assimilate into society. In the background, we see what happens when two cultures with differing values collide, one more powerful than the other, and there is no reaching out, no learning about the other… just resentment and hate. We need to be asking a lot of questions to the people we fear. And we need to open up to them. We need to work with each other and not be selfish in order to move forward.
Besides this series, I’m planning a memoir section combining images and my personal history. There will be an interactive area with some portraits of people who need society to help them and questions about if they should or should not receive help. I plan to publish the results of the surveys on this site. There will be some pretty pictures, too, like this one:
And some animals too!
And hopefully some woodwork from my friend, the amazing Cathy Begg!
If you happen to be in New Hope in May, please be sure to drop in! You can also email me for details at saullyonsart@gmail.com. And check out my new site: http://www.saullyons.com
The “A” Space, New Hope Arts Center, New Hope, PA 18938
saullyonsart 