Friday, May 7, 2010

First weekend in May


After my brief stay in Sanderson, I headed down the road to Del Rio, Texas. Every year, for 33 years consecutivly, Del Rio has hosted an event which rounds into one place a particular group of subjects I'm interested in pursueing with paint, solely for the display of courage, chaos, and exhibition of spontaneous energy. The George Paul Memorial Rodeo, a.k.a. "SuperBull", was a primary objective to hit on my pass back into civilization. If I am on a quest to redefine my West Texas heritage in paint, the subjects here are contemporary cornerstones for that description.


The thing about a man latching himself down to a 2,000lb creature, a creature untamed, with no desire to be domesticated, with no real desire for man at all, is that it is absolutely crazy. But that's exactly what it takes to break boundries into a void where men figure out just what the universe is made of; to take the ride. For each time they climb on and the gate opens they are off into the place where time doesn't exist. Where sound fades out and only the slow description of action takes over. Every detail stops, and amidst the chaos and explosion of energy peace of mind is achieved. It's an addictively gratifying sensation, coupled with accomplishment, competition, glory, danger and death. It is everything men strive for. And for me, seeing the actions, the space tearing energy, hearing the crowd respond to a successful 8 second ride, is everything the act of creating a successful picture accomplishes. It doesn't make sense, and the experience generally doesn't last for long. In the end, my experience at the Del Rio SuperBull rodeo was a good one. I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of art I can produce as a result.

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