I love technology. I’ve been around it my whole life because of my dad. But the downside, in terms of access, is that we don’t have to work hard to get information anymore. But art is inscrutable sometimes—we actually have to make an effort. A while ago, I started learning about the Kabbalah, and one of the principles I’ve understood is that if everything is given to us, and we don’t earn anything, we get frustrated. The effort of earning what we have allows satisfaction, joy, and happiness to enter our lives.
Joyce Pensato created paintings that pulled from popular imagery, emphasizing unexpected aspects. In The Look Out (2016), cartoon eyes are separated from the rest of the face, expressing longing, wisdom, fear, desire, presentness. We need to cultivate as well as develop honest responses to all the diverse experiences of being alive. That is how we live an authentic life.
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