Blind Man with Yellow Piano in Analog Time (2017) Malerei von Charles Riley

This oil painting, especially paired with Diptych II, has elements of expressionism, conceptualism, and figurative styles. The painting and print with poem are a reflection on the human condition, the blues, time and space. As part of the art process, the painting was shot with a shotgun blast of bird shot and slashed with a knife. Subsequent repairs to the painting resulted in a painting with additional dimensions. The poem deepens these dimensions with a story, which is a story of our time featuring a social media critic who, at a loss for words, blasts the artwork with a shotgun and for good measure stabs it resulting in improvement through the resilience of the art process. According to communications theory, older media such as painting and writing can act as a healing balance to overheated new media. The intuitive open minded process I use leads many places and vibrates a long musical string. The following story poem reflects on the painting, the process of artwork, and related aspects of our time:

This painting suffered an
unfortunate shotgun blast
and puncture wound by a
whimsical art critic. How
he managed to do this
from a particularly vi-
tuperative social media
website I am amazed.
However, with the ever
increasing pace of progress
I am not completely sur-
prised. Without the least
offense taken, I incorporated
the criticism as part of the
natural life of the painting. I
believe this adds some of
the rough and unexpected
circumstances we must
face and work with
without hiding in self-pity
or exaggerating our own
self-worth by railing at the
injustice of life. In the end, the
painting emerged as a better
painting for the criticism.
The gunshot wound to the
buttocks forced me to re-
think the healing process
and the scars left behind,
while the puncture wound
to the sky reinforced my
understanding of a growing
resentment of space and time
not paying enough attention
to our complaints about being
stuck wherever we are in
congested motor ways.

Verwandte Themen

BluesFigurativeOil PaintingAlegoricalHuman Condition