And There I Was

on the 14th Street Crosstown Bus, taking pictures with my iPhone, thru the window, of the people below.  I was only looking at the people but what I saw when I looked at the photos, was amazing.  There were reflections, and reflections of reflections.  There were strange shapes, cutting off other strange shapes, blank shapes of solid colors, shapes of green leaves of trees I could’t see, smokey colors, smokey shapes.  Peoples’ heads would be interrupted with windows that looked into the sky, or showed us far away traffic. The buildings in the background would suddenly slip into the faces, or the profile of the face would be the edge of a building.  People’s hair got mixed up with other people’s hair and the edge of the shape would be the profile of a third person.

When civilization was young, we had the gods of thunder, lightning, the sun, the moon, rivers, oceans, birds, animals, trees, the wind, and each god had his/her story, which explained the forces around us.  Now we have the forces but not such lovely myths.  To me, these strange, aggressive shapes, that cut into or cover these people, are symbolic of the modern forces that assail us; the noises, the sirens, the jackhammers, the people yelling, the loud radios, the screech of brakes; and beyond that, television, the advertising, the lies, the call to buy - everything, the requests to give money, the insistence to believe in something you know nothing about, to believe the politicians.

But these wonderful people on 14th Street, just keep going thru it all.  They hear and feel and know all the forces, but they have enough faith in themselves, or in something, or they have such serous business, that they keep going.  They do their chores.  They buy the thing they need, or what their children need.  They keep their appointments, they find that special thing they were looking for.

So I paint from the photos.  I include all the strange shapes.  Sometimes the shapes tell a specific story, especially, if there are words in the photo.  But mainly I paint these people.  I am in awe of their strength.  I am in awe of their persistence.  I am in awe of their love of life.

These oils are all in the series, “Reflections on 14th Street”