Backgrounds

For every foreground there is a background. Both are separate and related, interact to communicate.

Let me show you my family portrait. Close your eyes and picture it. I am the painting and the colors on it are my life. My background is dark, gloomy, with chaotic drunken swirls, full of anger, depression, frustration. The flows and swirls, in itself are caught in this repetition, an eddy in a rushing river. As you look closer, you notice that there are two distinct dark colors, full of violence and rage. Two other forms emerge from those patterns. The first one, my sister, is more stable, colors are still somber but take on lighter shades. The second pattern, my brother, is barely distinguishable; dark, moody and sucking in lighter colors surrounding it.

Then a third pattern emerges, me, sharp bright edges contrasting the background. Colors are bright and happy. This pattern should be in a painting with rainbows, meadows, and sunshine. What is it doing in this painting? What is the artist trying to communicate? How could this background create this image? Yet, here it is.

The luminous image attracts other phosphorescent hues and lifts off the canvas, creating a new sensation, a new life, a new and distinct painting.

The painting represents the family from which I emerged. A smiley baby transformed into an optimistic individual placed initially on a dark canvas leaving behind the gloom and attracting new and happy people. How did I come to be?

How does your background affect your evaluation of the underlying images of my painting? We each carry our own background with us through life. Does the background of your life aid or hinder your understanding my life?

How does a background affect a painting? In that respect, how does a background affect a picture? Is it in the eye of the beholder? Then how does the background affect the eye of the beholder? How does the background affect the beholder's attitude? How does the background affect life? How does the beholder's attitude affect the background?