Go Forth

48” × 48” Spray paint, acrylic, pencil and paint pen (oil and acrylic), graphite and jute on canvas.

When I visited Spain in June, I saw Antoni Tàpies’ Ambrosia by chance at the Guggenheim in Bilbao and was gobsmacked. He has long been one of my favorite artists, especially for his ability to connect seeming coincidence with form. Is it chance? Is it skill? Did he even know?

This painting is dedicated to him. And yes, I am deliberately trying to let this one look like his work, albeit with my own secret sauce. It takes courage to pursue your own path while also acknowledging the broad shoulders that helped clear it for you.

The cross appears often in Tàpies’ work and is naturally rife with symbolism. I offer a less religious, though no less burdensome, take. For me, the cross embodies the four directions of our lives: the physical, the spiritual, the intellectual, and the emotional. To deny one is to distort the whole.

That is where Go Forth enters. Take up your cross as you see it, for it will not be the same as mine, and have the courage to move ahead. It is not an optimistic slogan. It is simply what we must do so that when we look back on that road, we can say it was a life well lived.

Frame not included.