Well before the white-haired boy (that would be me) created his newest piece titled 'The Near-Death Experience of Imagination' (shown below) in his 'Brush With Fame' series of assemblages, he’d read what David Lynch wrote, that “we think we understand the rules when we become adults, but what we really experience is a narrowing of the imagination.”
When he began thinking about this and about his childhood he realized that for most of it he had believed, as did Lewis Carroll, “in as many as 6 impossible things before breakfast.”, something he never wanted to sacrifice.
But one day, on the other side of an Acquired Brain Injury and nearly 6 months worth of post-accident memory loss, as well as many other issues he had learn how to deal with, he recalled Sylvia Plath's thoughts, that "What I fear most, I think, is the death of the imagination."
"If I sit still and don't do anything, the world goes on beating like a slack drum, without meaning." wrote Sylvia.
"We must be moving, working, making dreams to run toward. The poverty of life without dreams is too horrible to imagine."
Fearing he'd lost his, the white-haired boy began to contemplate his world without dreams and imagination.
After reading on the front page of ‘The World' (which may or may not exist and which may or may not be true or based on actual events) about how Rocketeers rescued passengers from the ill-fated Titanic, and that no lives were lost, his salvation so they say, came when he welcomed back into the world the very same Rocketeers that he once petitioned to have banned from the streets.
He wanted to be a better person, a nice person, like "the kind of people that love The Rocketeer", and Rocketeers in general, for they "are the kind of people that love good storytelling and innocence and a better world, so to speak, so they're almost always nice people to bump into." (Billy Campbell)
Knowing it’s "when we tell stories together that we are truly human and most genuinely ourselves" (unk), the white-haired boy made a decision.
This is what he wanted.
He wanted to be genuine, tell stories, imagine himself as a Rocketeer, feel good about himself when he bumped into people, and after reading how Captain Anne Lister (that's Ann but with an e on the end) during her space travels that took her places where no woman had gone before, had managed to successfully touch down on the 'Planet of Thought', a world without men, he wanted to let the world know that women also make for good Rocketeers.
In fact, he (or I) would say that women make the very best of Rocketeers because they represent the best of humanity.
How despicable it is that men so often treat women as quite the opposite by demeaning, devaluing, disrespecting and abusing them.
I have a remarkable woman who I am travelling with through time, space and life, and over the years as I've watched her there beside me, before me and behind me, creating, loving, living and breathing, it "dawned on me that nothing was more important than stopping violence toward women", 'men's' violence toward women", ... that the desecration of women indicated the failure of human beings", and men in particular, "to honor and protect life." (Eve Ensler, The Vagina Monologues)
Together with realizing that she is the most beautiful creature to have ever arrived on this planet, what I wrote above is my unwavering belief.
The photo above is of Commander Angela Hardy, navigator and pilot extroidiere.
The 'BRUSH WITH FAME' numbered series currently in progress evolved from its precursor titled 'BRUSH WITH FAME', an assemblage created in 2020.
The photos like the ones below that included in this post are of 'BRUSH WITH FAME no. 013 - ROBERT RUBY/CANADA ~ The Near Death Experience of Imagination'
Each piece showcases the brush(es) of one artist from a collection of participants from around the world, so far including Canada, USA, Poland, France, England, Australia, Germany and Italy. Some of these artists have a lot of fame, and some have very little. Some want fame, and some don't care. For some it simply eluded them while others are quite new on the scene.
What all these artists have in common is the brushes they've used to spread paint, whisk out details, and apply varnishes and adhesives.
Without exception, my first impression with each brush I've received has been how intimate and precious these instruments are. They've seen early mornings and late nights, and their acquired patinas have stories to tell which become my narrative for each piece.
In order to regroup I'll be taking a break from posting for a few days, but I'll definitely be back next week with more.
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