I rarely have time to spend a few days painting without doing much else, but when I do the world stops. I am able to shut myself completely from the world and concentrate completely on the process, without knowledge of what’s happening around me. No news, no papers, nothing.
When I come back to the real world, I usually feel stunned. After a few days living in ecstasy, the come back is usually a shock. I am shocked how it is possible to feel such passion for something so frivolous. I am shocked how irrelevant art is to the world around me and how useless painting really is. You see, if the garbage collector doesn’t come for a couple of days, there will be chaos in our street. But if I don’t paint, no one will notice. In fact, sometimes I spend days without painting, the excuse being that the muse left me. What excuse could the garbage collector ever give for not collecting my garbage for a whole week?
How strange society is. The most important jobs to society, such as taking care of others, feeding others, cleaning after others are usually the worst paid. I know I am generalising, but isn’t it stupid that paintings and art pieces are sold for millions while people still die of hunger? And to add insult to injury, we are living in a society where paintings are only important for what they are worth in monetary terms rather than their artistic value. How do they come up with such prices? Personally, pricing a painting is the second worst thing to do after naming it. How could you price your own children?
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...and here is my latest
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Birgu Watrefront
