Senses (£700) – ‘The emotions it brings, the truths I see’ – Senses Painting
Original artwork signed by the artist Width: 40″ Height: 40″ x 1.5″ Deep Media: Acrylic Surface: Canvas
Senses – the value of emotions in helping us find our truth.
As we grow up many of us feel pressure to regulate our emotions. We are taught to reduce the intensity of our grief, our laughter and our anger because the intensity makes others feel uncomfortable. We must conform to expectations of the correct muted behavior in order to assimilate.
What many of us are not taught is that having deep and intense emotions can actually be of benefit. Engaging with our emotions can make us see life differently; emotions can help us see through things to the truth. Emotions can be the spotlights that help us put our fingers on what is wrong or right with a situation, they reveal things.
The Caribbean-American writer and civil rights activist, Audre Lorde, got it right when she said, “Our feelings are our most genuine paths to knowledge.” Her poems conveyed rage at the civil rights injustices she witnessed and they were a part of the groundswell that changed the face of a society.
It’s part of my job as artist to tap into the intensity of my emotional experience and find universal themes and truths. In this painting I wanted to explore the value of emotions, often activated by the senses, and to capture the exact moment when emotions reveal truths.
The strong bold lines, textures and elements in white, brown and black in the foreground of the painting represent the emotions and the vivid and rich experience of them. Behind these emotions is a glimmer of something more universal, the truth of the matter, a strong backdrop that has been there all along.
This painting is a reminder that finding one’s truth is possible and that our emotional experience should not be disregarded. It’s a reminder to foster our deeper selves, to feel what we need to feel to live more authentically, and is perfect for those who want to commit to this way of life.