Artist Show Statement
Joseph Campbell, in his book Thou Art That, asks us to consider the philosopher Schopenhauer’s, question,“How is it possible that suffering that is neither my own nor of my concern should immediately affect me as though it were my own, and with such force that it moves me to action?... This is something really mysterious,something for which Reason can provide no explanation”… This fundamental insight, as Schopenhauer continued, reveals that “my own true inner being actually exists in every living creature…[and] is the ground of that compassion… upon which all true, that is to say unselfish, virtue rests and whose expression is in every good deed.” (1)
Joseph Campbell makes a compelling conclusion, “What is the kingdom? It lies in our realization of the ubiquity of the divine presence in our neighbours, in our enemies, in all of us.” (2)
In gathering these paintings, I offer an opportunity to consider that, though we may seem diverse, really we are absolutely and necessarily one.
1. Thou Art That, Joseph Campbell, New World Library, California, 2001, p. xi-xii
2. Ibid, p. 107
