Winding up...then down

You know, its truly amazing how quickly things change. I find myself constantly yo-yoing in emotions, from confidence to fear, to sadness to glee. It seems as though in New York, life is going like a video with the fast-forward button held down. Not only in movement but time. It seems things take longer to do or to get to, but since time is passing more quickly, you are able to only get a small percentage of things done that you would like. Its very frustrating sometimes, and you can feel others' frustration with it also. I know the everyone says its "life in the fast lane" in New York, but hell, but that's not what I'm talking about. What I'm talking about is a true sense of speed that in enveloping, as though the entire city's population has gone overboard from a raft into white-water rapids and can't quick seem to hold onto anything to get to solid ground. They simply grasp at foam and debris for momentary relief, and finally let the river take them where it wants them to go.

This analogy proves prudent after visiting the exquisite Turner exhibit at the Met. His truly phenomenal body of work has guided me over the years. His bravery as a painter during his time reminds me of the occupational hazards artists face when their work is true and their work is challenging to the masses. Turner found solid ground and did not yield to the impending current of London. Every face-off at the Royal Academy was met with an equal response of admiration and disdain. His tireless resolve & flamboyant character was what kept him alive.

He knew he was doing the right thing. He knew the answer lay in the work and as Michalangeo said (and I'm paraphrasing) "The work is there, it simply needs to be dug out."

Perhaps the canvas is never blank. It is merely covered. The work is there. It just needs to be revealed. Turner had a second sight. He saw the work beneath the blank canvas. He saw the color that was vibrating beneath the white. He saw colors most never see or will see again. In the fires of London, he saw galkyd and cadmium yellow, with white and transparent earth red. And he chewed away at the canvas to reveal the fires that stayed with him in his mind, and stay with us today.