“PEOPLE SETTLE FOR A LEVEL OF DESPAIR THEY CAN TOLERATE AND CALL IT HAPPINESS” (SOREN KIERKEGAARD) [sold]

A friend shared this quote with me and I find myself associating this piece with it. What I appreciate about existentialist philosophers like Kierkegaard is that they often clearly acknowledge the randomness of human life, are realistic about the fragilities and anxieties of human existence, but also, as a result of logical thought, quite positive about the enjoyment of the present and gaining joy through a fragile and anxious existence. This quote also brings to mind an old favourite read of mine, the essay titled “The Myth of Sisyphus”, by Albert Camus (who was influenced by Kierkegaard to a degree). Each time Sisyphus rolls his boulder up a hill, it rolls down, and he has to restart the drudgery of the process. Camus wrote, that he is interested in the pause, when Sisyphus has to decide to keep going, and that “One must imagine Sisyphus happy.”

30h x 36w x 0.75d (inches); ink and acrylic on wood-backed canvas