The Beholder

Using the dagger striper brush this morning, experimenting with strokes and blending unique to this particular brush shape. Thinking of friend Nick who favors subdued colors and the theories of beauty proposed by philosopher Ayn Rand versus those of Yanagi Soetsu and Okakura's "The Book of Tea."

In "Atlas Shrugged" the author's character rails against abstract art, deeming it thoughtless, hence without value, or worse, just plain bad. In philosopher Rand's scheme of things, rationality and ordered purpose are the ultimate values. Illustrating this, I painted "How We See The World" a large painting comprised of transparent rectangles, very orderly shapes, layered in such a way that they suggest an expansive landscape.

In today's painting, I defer to the ideas proposed by the Japanese philosophers, where beauty is sought in the unique and random qualities of natural expression.

Who is right? What is beautiful?

Well, wouldn't that depend on who is asking the question and how their world view is structured? Isn't this what's meant by "beauty is in the eye of the beholder"?

- Nancy Boudreau

This painting is approximately 5" x 7" acrylic painting on gessoed matboard, in an 8" x 10" gray colored mat, unframed, shipped to you directly by the artist. The title and prose that appear above are handwritten on the back of the painting. The painting is also signed and dated on the back.