Friday, March 29, 2013

Painting what you don't like


I'm painting a series of nine paintings based on positivist quotes, in which the images are in contrast with, and therefore a protest against, the quotations.
Blood-spattered swastika


This week, as a part of this series I started painting Adolf Hitler, and I didn't like it. Normally, when I paint a person's portrait I start feeling closer to my model. As I paint, I reflect on what sort of thoughts and dreams they might have, whether they're happy...

Inevitably, that's what happened between me and mr Hitler. I started wondering about his human side, had he ever been nice to anyone, felt love, tenderness? Had he ever felt fear or remorse about the millions of murders on his conscience?  In short, painting him forced me to try and imagine what it was like to be him, to see him as a human being. Not what you might call a pleasant experience, in fact it made my skin crawl.

We're not supposed to look upon people who do monstrous things as people. It brings it too close to home. We're supposed to safely categorize them as monsters so we can believe they're nothing like us. When you're not a neo-Nazi you're not supposed to look upon Hitler as human, and so I felt guilty and sick. But it also made me wonder. Hitler was not alone, he had so many followers and helpers. Were all those people monsters? That's an awful number of monsters walking the earth.

Of course Hitler was human, with hopes and dreams. That is exacly the point of my painting. It is based on Walt Disney's quote: 'What you can dream, you can do'.  Hitler had a dream he proved he could do. The monstrous thing is: one person's dream can turn out to be other people's nightmare.




Friday, March 15, 2013

The dark side of positive thinking

There are thousands of extremely popular books and websites about positive thinking, promoting the idea that anyone can do anything if only they put their minds to it.

Although the idea is so tempting, reality shows that we can all of us, during our lives, be held back by outside circumstances and influences from within that we have very little or no control over. For example, I can not become a rocket scientist with an IQ of 65, or a pilot if I'm deaf and blind.

Thinking of those who are sick, dying, mentally ill, stricken by poverty, oppression, war, or natural disasters, some positivist quotes are hideously insensitive. For example: 'What you can dream, you can do' - Walt Disney (But Walt, do you seriously think I should tell that to my friend who is dying from cancer?). And how about this one: 'Everything you experience in your life is invited, attracted and created by you' - Robert Anthony. Reading that sentence I immediately think of those who died in WWII concentration camps. How can anyone use their rational minds and seriously believe that?

Positive thinking is dangerously one-sided, as it in no way prepares us for dealing with the very difficult sides of life which we all may have to face at some time or another. Also, it can easily lead to an impatience with others' imperfections and a lack of compassion for those who are suffering.

My thoughts about this subject have inspired me to start a project on the subject, consisting of nine paintings in which the images are in contrast with, and therefore a protest against, the quotations. Basically, they are a cry for more rationality and compassion.