IHere's the latest progress on "4 Seasons". The Lincoln Memorial is complete and now I'm working on the VVM Wall and starting the addition of the army of the Civil War.
I've been thinking about why I included the Lincoln Memorial in REQUIEM and featured it in this painting. The inscription above Lincoln's statue inside the memorial is:
I've been thinking about why I included the Lincoln Memorial in REQUIEM and featured it in this painting. The inscription above Lincoln's statue inside the memorial is:
In this Temple
As in the Hearts of the People
For Whom He Saved the Union
The Memory of Abraham Lincoln
Is Enshrined Forever
Although this is a temple to the memory of one man - it is the shrine to the ideals for which he lived and died - it is also a temple to the ideals of freedom, equality and right action in the face of extreme opposition. He was, to paraphrase James Thomas Flexner, another "Indispensable Man". As was George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and others in their day. Our investigative reporter culture looks back through time - and attempts to dethrone these heroes of past days. This is an twisted "king-killer" mentality that robs the good and feeds the negative and demeaning energy in our world.
Our leaders are lampooned and denigrated, in part, because we will not be lead by indispensable men or women as we were in the past. Oh! We say we want them and we certainly need both men and women of the indispensable variety - but our sibling society can't abide true and powerful masculine and feminine archetypes. And while we shouldn't abide the tyranny of evil leadership we have no evidence of cultural value that we can point to that shows that we truly value indispensable leaders. Indeed the opposite is true - we distrust men and women of faith and character. We consume super sized portions of rudeness and crude language and boorish behavior - we strain at gnats and swallow camels. And in many cases we have been betrayed by those who violate sacred oaths to protect and serve. It's difficult to mend the broken wheel of trust.
Indeed current leadership behavior and politics are fine fodder for the new political leaders rising in the LA Confidential-ized world. Look at LA's mayor for example. Bereft of leadership and basic morality - and unwilling or incapable of common shame that would bring fidelity and integrity back to his life. Poor man. Poor man's children. Poor LA.
Have we, in the name of fear of dictators and tyrants, ceased to be a world capable of producing leaders like Lincoln? Have we lost the desire to be led by great men and women? Certainly we have lost the inclination to have them lead us. Oh! But just wait until they are needed. Then indeed we will raise our wailing voices and gnash our teeth, crying out to be saved.
I believe that society, culture and the localized bad weather of the times we live in, cannot stay the rise of the indispensable leader - leaders rise because of great cosmic necessity in spite of the immature adult children that will whine and complain about the hard things that must be done. They rise so that goodness can thrive. They rise in spite of the "King Killers" in our world - those that snipe, demean, and diminish the heroic and royal, even godly, in all of us.
And where are the temples and memorials of our modern day. They are all around us in the shadows and the veneer of things that appear worthy of devotion. Shiny and good smelling...but ultimately white washed tombs full of death and corruption. Shopping Malls and courthouses where our children, friends and neighbors worship at the altar of strange gods named Nordstrom and Dissolution of Marriage. Vomitoriums of the engorged consumer.
I look to Lincoln...yes he was a mere mortal man...I look to him and remember and try to honor his memory in the best way I can - through my meager gifts as an artist.
And this is why I remember Lincoln. And live in faith that when indispensable men or women are needed they will rise in the time required to save the union.
Have to go now - I need to go shopping at Best Buy.
D_
As in the Hearts of the People
For Whom He Saved the Union
The Memory of Abraham Lincoln
Is Enshrined Forever
Although this is a temple to the memory of one man - it is the shrine to the ideals for which he lived and died - it is also a temple to the ideals of freedom, equality and right action in the face of extreme opposition. He was, to paraphrase James Thomas Flexner, another "Indispensable Man". As was George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and others in their day. Our investigative reporter culture looks back through time - and attempts to dethrone these heroes of past days. This is an twisted "king-killer" mentality that robs the good and feeds the negative and demeaning energy in our world.
Our leaders are lampooned and denigrated, in part, because we will not be lead by indispensable men or women as we were in the past. Oh! We say we want them and we certainly need both men and women of the indispensable variety - but our sibling society can't abide true and powerful masculine and feminine archetypes. And while we shouldn't abide the tyranny of evil leadership we have no evidence of cultural value that we can point to that shows that we truly value indispensable leaders. Indeed the opposite is true - we distrust men and women of faith and character. We consume super sized portions of rudeness and crude language and boorish behavior - we strain at gnats and swallow camels. And in many cases we have been betrayed by those who violate sacred oaths to protect and serve. It's difficult to mend the broken wheel of trust.
Indeed current leadership behavior and politics are fine fodder for the new political leaders rising in the LA Confidential-ized world. Look at LA's mayor for example. Bereft of leadership and basic morality - and unwilling or incapable of common shame that would bring fidelity and integrity back to his life. Poor man. Poor man's children. Poor LA.
Have we, in the name of fear of dictators and tyrants, ceased to be a world capable of producing leaders like Lincoln? Have we lost the desire to be led by great men and women? Certainly we have lost the inclination to have them lead us. Oh! But just wait until they are needed. Then indeed we will raise our wailing voices and gnash our teeth, crying out to be saved.
I believe that society, culture and the localized bad weather of the times we live in, cannot stay the rise of the indispensable leader - leaders rise because of great cosmic necessity in spite of the immature adult children that will whine and complain about the hard things that must be done. They rise so that goodness can thrive. They rise in spite of the "King Killers" in our world - those that snipe, demean, and diminish the heroic and royal, even godly, in all of us.
And where are the temples and memorials of our modern day. They are all around us in the shadows and the veneer of things that appear worthy of devotion. Shiny and good smelling...but ultimately white washed tombs full of death and corruption. Shopping Malls and courthouses where our children, friends and neighbors worship at the altar of strange gods named Nordstrom and Dissolution of Marriage. Vomitoriums of the engorged consumer.
I look to Lincoln...yes he was a mere mortal man...I look to him and remember and try to honor his memory in the best way I can - through my meager gifts as an artist.
And this is why I remember Lincoln. And live in faith that when indispensable men or women are needed they will rise in the time required to save the union.
Have to go now - I need to go shopping at Best Buy.
D_
