ARMENIA
Ar-me-ni-a, city in the sky, a Who song1, not the country2.
This painting is part of a series dealing with what Barbara Tuchman describes as the disillusionments of twentieth-century man. Among the most crushing of these is the death of two cherished notions: that of progress and that of the perfectibility of mankind. Many of the symbolic elements in the painting are derived from aspects of and variations on that theme.
However, as is usual with my art in general and my personal works in particular, this painting is also a confluence of thoughts, themes, symbols, and feelings. Therefore it has a number of layers of meaning for me. For example, on one level it is a reaction to the naive futurism underlying the pristine "floating city" cliche so often seen in SF art.
The creators of those works never seem to take account of unchanging human nature: I always wonder where the graffiti, the police, and the litter are—the negative aspects of society as it is and probably ever will be.
Additional images from ARMENIA
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Supposedly inspired by a long lost 60s painting, the song “Armenia” was written by John “Speedy” Keen and recorded by The Who for their 1967 album The Who Sell Out.
The last time I posted ARMENIA was in early September 2023 before the ethnic cleansing of Nagorno-Karabakh region by Azerbaijan. Human rights abuses including a 9 month blockade have gone largely ignored.
While the painting isn’t a reference to the country, I feel compelled to mention what happened there because the two are so inextricably linked in my mind now.
Read more about the background of the region as detailed by the Human Rights Foundation.
Many, many years ago when I had an opportunity to travel north and visit Glass Onion and Michael & Audrey, I acquired my first original MW paintings. Michael, in his generosity, gave me the working drawing mentioned above. I later had the opportunity to share it with one of my favorite musicians, Jonn Serrie. He was astonished to see it as the painting is used on the cover of his wonderful CD, Midsummer Century!
Michael was talking about a tight sketch he did before the painting, but I'm not sure if I've ever seen that sketch.