What Are We Waiting For?

So, our world -- at least from the perspective of many of us -- is a mess. Apart from deep policy divides, values that we have cherished are being stomped on like grapes at a wine crush. The line between truth and falsity has been blurred and people are being ostracized (literally and figuratively) in a myriad of ways because of their color or nation of origin or their ethnicity or their gender. It's enough tumult to create real unease. I keep repeating that it is as if the world fell off its axis and took its moral compass with it.

I was recently at an art gallery in South Carolina (have spent some time in this state of late working on helping some under served communities while enjoying the natural beauty of water and marches). I saw two different artists' work and have been thinking about and reflecting on both of them ever since.

First, I saw the art of EB Lewis (who is also a stunning children's book illustrator). I liked his work immediately; it evidenced how difference makes you feel isolated and alone. His paintings are evocative; they are tender; they are moving. After visiting the gallery, I went online to learn more about his work and his beliefs. Here was a saying splayed across the front page of his website: "Waiting for inspiration is a luxury you cannot afford to live by."

How true is that phrase in today's world? We don't have time to wait -- in fact, time is a wastin'. I saw the art and the phrase as a directive to me personally to act --- to speak up and out and not wait for the perfect moment or the perfect situation or the perfect article. Perhaps it is time to buy EB Lewis' art.

At the same gallery, they had just concluded an exhibit on opposites where painters were asked to create two paintings -- the opposites of each other. And, the opposites were each hung side by side. (Official title of the exhibit was Opposites Attract). While many of the works were sold by the time I actually got to the exhibit, several remained. And, they were both expressive and haunting in a sense --- making me focus on how the same scene can be look so very different from different perspectives -- the passage of time, light, dark, full, empty.

Then, I was particularly struck by the two paintings by Sally Tharp (which I would purchase in a heartbeat if money were no object). They are titled, respectively, The Haves and The Have Nots. The first image on the left depicted empty glass ball jars (used in canning and common in Vermont where I have spent much time and have a home). The image is large -- 24" x 36"; the jars looked a tad melancholy -- if jars had feelings. Next to this oil painting was another image of the same size with many of the same ball jars except, this time, they were filled with colorful, vibrant fruit and vegetables. The fruits and vegetables were ripe, almost bursting out of the jars.

The contrast was stunning and startling --- the Haves really "had it" all over the Have Nots. Just like in the real world where instead of jars, we have people and communities. And, we have an ever growing divide in our nation between the haves and have nots. The two images together symbolized for me that growing chasm in our world, accentuated by contemporary politics.

Between the work of these two artists (Lewis; Tharp), I was receiving a message that at some level I already knew: don't sit silent. Don't wait to act. Speak up and out now about what is wrong in our world. If I wait, the gap between the "haves" and "have nots" will grow. So, Lewis is right --- there is no perfect moment for inspiration. Act (or draw or dance or write or speak) and inspiration may just come. It did for these artists.

P.S. A special thank-you to MW for joining me in the quest to see more clearly.