"Battle Royale" 30 x 30 Oil on 2" cradled panel
Will you be a voyeur, sitting on the sidelines, or will you ride into the fray? Do you have what it takes to enter the battle? No one every really knows, and yet.... you have to try.
Behind every family, every man and woman's face, whether smiling or frowning, somewhere along the line there has been some sort of battle.
These past few years have taught me that my family and I... are gladiators.
Of course, not all battles are of the overt kind; i.e. men and women in uniform, wielding weapons, etc.... Some are competitive and athletic battles; there are battles for supremacy in business and politics; against familial, social and political injustice; terrible foes both real and personal - some were fought outside your life and family, and some are not. I think that 'The Battle Royal' is for many an 'internal battle'. Many of us struggle with negative patterns or from triggers from traumas still active within, even though they are echoes of prior battles.... Not all battle scars are visible; Addiction, prejudice, past abuses, indeed terrors of every kind can affect and infect our lives until we choose to confront them... I shared most of mine in "Battle Royale".
I thought it was interesting that, upon seeing this painting, a representative artist/acquaintance who paints a lot of polo informed me "if you ride in like that, you're breaking the rules and would be conduction a foul". Don't we have to go out of bounds, stop playing the game and take a risk now and again, breaking the pattern of conformity? Sometimes we have to, if we're going to be enlightened and leave the old game we've been trained to play, which is always 'someone else's game'. Don't get me wrong, I know it's vital to be well trained at something, to know the rules if we are to win from time to time... But of course, as always, this painting is a metaphor for some "big energy" that was recently churning in my life.
My mentor Dick Turner said " All works of art are mirrors". This piece, "Battle Royale", truly reflects an embattled state; Together, you and I are riding in, very close... The dark mare sees us coming, but the grey mare is filled with the enlightened spirit, and will show us the way out... She always has, she always will... Every mark and mallet, every energetic, expressive pattern and color sings the silent song of my internal rhythm. Enjoy!