Artist and Family

On the deep and permanent tension between the natural structure of the family ----founded upon a certain necessary unconscious silence----- and the emerging life of the artist whose life is that of an expressively committed consciousness. If you are an artist, you know, or at least sense profoundly, what I mean.

This is specially so in the case of disfunctional families whose very disfunctionality requires a deeply troubling silence about their sick condition. In such unhappy cases, the home can become a dangerous prison for the artist. Windows grow prison bars; parental models become all-encompassing demeaning gods; brothers/sisters do not become true friends.

And still, within this turmoil -----probably because of it----- the artist must find him/herself. This is the very reason why families are in need of artists --and artistically minded members--- for they alone see what others lack the courage to face. Herein lies, in part, the dignity and importance of artists; they break new ground where the ground appears consumed. Unfortunately, such realization is the exception. Fortunately, the artist has --in part-- what true health requires.

(Ink and acrylic on paper from a very old idea; 70cm x 50cm)