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How Art Can Help in an Emergency
My focus as I paint using symbols for every stroke is always on the symbol set I use -- letters- as energy and also for some, they represent the Words of The Divine. The symbol-strokes may create an image of a sunset, windmill, bird or tree, etc., but for me it is alweays all about the stroke.
Jews and Christians have expressions such as, “We are walking in Torah," or “The Words of God are everywhere.” My works show this and as other religious artists, such as Dali, da Vinci, Chagall and Rembrandt have worked to show biblical stories according to their theology. Of course, my work is at the intersection of where ancient spiritual truths intersect with contemporary cutting edge elementary physics so those letters, my symbol-strokes also represent the smallest pre-matter or energy that are the essences of the physical universe.
Emergency responders learn how to deal with and prepare for emergencies when there are no emergencies. Basic training is done in classrooms and carefully controlled situations that are not actual emergency situations. Coping with emergencies is practiced until it becomes a routine when dealing with an actual emergency. Whatever the emergency, early responders are trained in exactly how to handle it, including the many possible variables and the challenges they could create. They are prepared, and their equipment is prepared ahead of any emergency.
On a glorious day, or seeing the splendor of a sunset it is easy for many people to admire the handiwork of the Creator. In museums, gallery shows, in books and even online one can see some of the best, most inspiring and life changing art. Of course, collectors have such art t in their homes and see it every day.
Emergency responders all have and follow a chain of command much like the military. No matter what the emergency, modern devices such as phones and radio dispatch mean that the more experienced commanders are easily in control of the tactical decisions for handling the emergency. The final difficult decision rests with the highest in command available.
“There are no atheists in foxholes,” is an expression I have heard many times, but most often from men who have served in wars. Do you know what the most common response people of all faiths (including atheists), education levels and social strata cry when given horrible and unexpected news about a loss or disaster that seriously impacts them personally is? Depending on the person's religion a different name for the Lord may be sued, but the gist of it is an instantaneous cry to their God, such as “Oh God!” On an instantaneous gut level, one's God is the highest in command in a desperate moment.
To repeat, during an emergency, no sane person says, “Quick call and artist!” Also no one in Manhattan rushes an injured person to MoMA or the Met instead of heading to an emergency room. Yet in an emergency we can consciously access the memories of art that we have viewed, heard or experienced and bring it along to inform and comfort us as we wait in a hospital, or watch as emergency responders tend to the situation.
In times of trouble I have recalled not only scripture and my personal relationship, but Dickenson's poetry and Bach's music, which all led me to a more sustained faith and comfort. However, it was my visual memory of specific works by van Gogh, Rembrandt, Dali, Monet, Munch, El Greco, Picasso and Rothko, etc. comforted me in that I knew someone felt as I have before. Somehow, the depths of my feelings could be understood.
So when I paint, I do think of that person who is in a hospital, perhaps in a waiting room or chapel, perhaps in a bed themselves, awaiting news of the outcome of a test or operation for themselves or a loved one. I think of people returning to charred or demolished homes who have lost most of their material possessions that mean home, and most especially those treasures like photographs that cannot be replaced, but can always be seen in memory.
At a time when the world seems bleak and engulfing, empty of opportunities, when it seems like horror and wretchedness are like a dense wall that one has come up against, I work so that the memory of one of my paintings will offer a vision of solace and hope.
Hope and recognition that the surrounding walls that seem so solid, and the problems that seem like unmovable mountains are really only comprised of energy, that tiny pre-matter. Comfort in that those energies may be the very words of God, surrounding us and creating the illusion we call the physical universe now and always everywhere.
Learn to see more energy, possibilities, potential and even blessings wherever you are. You can acquire this new, exciting and comforting way of seeing the physical universe in each moment of now.
February 14, 2006 |
