David Alexander Smith's Paintings and Drawings

Janus

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Janus 2002
janussmall.jpg
Graphite on Paper 20x29 cm

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About the Picture

This is the only genuinely automatic drawing on the site, the result of a repetitive scribbling action; the image appeared as if by magic from the cloud of graphite. The two faces of the God fail to look forward and back simultaneously: time here is stuck. Looking nostalgically into the past, he has raised his mask, wearing it as a hat that looks idealistically upwards into impotent idealism. The token teddy bear of childhood hangs like a shrunken head from a tribal headdress, but it is too cute to scare anyone. I'm tempted to once more quote Kierkegaard's aesthetic persona: "Time passes, life is a stream, etc., so people say. That is not what I find: time stands still, and so do I. All the plans I project fly straight back at me; when I want to spit, I spit in my own face." (Kierkegaard)

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