Sunflowers at Night

"Sunflowers at Night"

When a friend of mine decided she'd like me to do a painting with Sunflowers I assumed it was going to be a fairly standard foray into the Flower painting realm.  As I began on this painting I was listening to a lot of reports about the current social climate (Economy, President Obama's Ahfganistan policy, and Global Warming, religion, etc...) and one mood that i picked up on throughout all the interviews, speeches, and opinion pieces was a general sense of "who knows?" or "what the hell do we do about all this?".

 If there's been one mood that has permiatted this decade and my generation, it's been a sense of confusion or being lost in the dark amongst all the weighty issues that stare us in the face on the television or internet everyday.  That's what brings me to this painting.  Each component of this painting is representative of our current social climate and the players involved.  I'll begin with the Sunflowers, they are of course the main part of the painting and are representative of you and I, the common american citizen.   They are especially meant to represent the members of my generation, the generation that has been raised and influenced by the Babyboomers and Reaganomics. 

The Bright glowing light that is above the entire Sunflower field overseeing them is representative of our Government, the to dots of light next to that light represent the two major parties that have been in control of the political system for as long as any of us can remember.  To the left the building with all the lights on is the Legislative branch of the government, for those of you that can't remember what that is, it is the House of Representatives and the Senate.  And on the right, the building with only one light on is representative of the Judicial branch/supreme court.  All these branches of the government have been the field overseer for generations and generations.  And I'd have to say that more so then at any other time in American history that all three seem to hold themselves above the American people as opposed to truly representing them.  Ever since the 50's especially passing laws and legislation that has truly undermined the American People's genuine need for life, love, and the pursuit of happiness.  What I like to consider the man behind the curtain or at least the 4th branch of our government is the Media.  This is represented as the red light towers behind the buildings and bright lights.  The reason I chose those lights to represent the media is their view stretches further then the government's, permeating all our lives and information.   But at the same time it's influence is a haze and harder to define then that of the government. 

Last but certainly not least is the brownish dark sky with the Moon in the background.  I chose the moon to be a main focus because I consider landing on the moon to be one of our Nations greatest accomplishments and stretches towards progress.  Now in the 21st century we seem to have lost a sense of progress or purpose, the Moon now sitting ghoulishly in the sky, a reminder of where we were headed and where we havn't been since. 

To touch on the Sunflowers one last time, as a viewer you'll notice that each one has a different stance, one feels the weight of the world heavy on it's head, another is looking around optimistically at all the opportunities that are surrounding it, a pair of sunflowers are huddling together, keeping each other safe and warm in uncertain times.  Although our stances may be different we are all the same in one way or another.  And as we move into this next decade hopefully there is a dawn on the horizon and we can continue to progress and move the human species forward into the future with hope and optimism.