When I get compliments on my paintings they are most often directed towards the bright joyful ones like the image above. As I receive these compliments, I think to myself "why don't you like the paintings that tell a real story?" It irritates me that the paintings people appreciate are the ones that simply sit on the wall and look pretty. What happens to the paintings that expose the more difficult aspects of life? What happens to the stories that tell a painful truth? Most often we bury them. We shuffle them under a rug instead of allowing them to speak from our walls. Our society hates hard truths. We would rather fake happiness than examine the causes of pain. We would rather stare at a manifested creation of joy than an image of difficult reality.
Sadness paves a path for joy. Hopelessness motivates great discovery. Shattering moments make room for powerful rebuilds. I feel more joy looking at an emotionally charged image than a perfectly crafted happy one because I know that by expressing a struggle on canvas the artist is in the process of discovering something truly amazing.
