SPOT OF LIGHT AT THE EDWARD HOPPER HOUSE, Nyack, N.Y./gunther
April 21, 2024
By Arthur Henry Gunther III
In artists’ places – houses, apartments, studios, benches in nature – there are what the fine Irish call “Seelie fairies,” those who bring kind emotion and nature’s beauty to the scene, much like the old Hollywood backdrops and sound stages. They also direct the creative toward the essence of living.
Not all art is about beauty in nature or people, but even in disturbing paintings that tug at you, there can be justice, the redemptive, hope. If so, the fairies have been whispering in the artist’s ear. They always do, these good nudges.
All art – painting, sculpture, abstract, realism, varied technique, photography, etc. – springs from the unique language of the creative, and that in itself is taken from the great well of emotions, colors, images, thoughts and learning that is the continuing human experience.
The gods bestow the language upon the artist, and ego aside, therefore the result from creativity is due not to him or her alone.
The individual is part of the whole, and our roles are chosen for us. Helping us, guiding us along the journey are many spirits and Seelie fairies too.
The writer is a retired newspaperman.
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