“I DO NOT TROUBLE MY SPIRIT TO VINDICATE ITSELF…” (WALT WHITMAN) I

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“I do not trouble my spirit to vindicate itself or be understood…I exist as I am, that is enough” is what Walt Whitman wrote in his poem “Song of Myself,” which lives in his poetry collection, Leaves of Grass.

It’s rather difficult to inhabit this sentiment on most occasions, but it’s quite the thing to aspire to. Social patterns often insist on explanations of ourselves, which can be a fatiguing exercise.

As I made this piece, I permitted a far more organic flow to the choice of materials, size of canvas, and ultimately, it felt like a robust and spirited expression that didn’t give a fuck about over-explaining itself or promoting itself. I find wonderful movement in the use of the jute twine, and a spontaneity in how the use of wax forced the paint in certain directions. It had to be this way.

Part of a series.

36h x 36w x 0.75d (inches); acrylic, wax, jute twine on wood-backed canvas