ARTAVODAH

EVENTS

Documentary: Solomon Kane

Read More

"Gone To Hell... Be Right Back..."

Oct. 24 - Nov. 1
Read More

Quantum Physics Show

Video

"Lockup in the sky with diamonds"

By LISA GRAY
Houston Chronicle
Read Article

Good Vibrations Metaphysical Magical Mysteries In Art

when: June 27th, 2009
where: Betz Art Gallery
Read More

Artist's Saloon

when: May 21, 2008
where: SpaceTaker
Read More

Psycho-Spirituality Under the Black Lights

when: May 24, 7:00pm, 2008
where: H Gallery
Read More

"WAR"

when: Sept. 8 - Nov. 15, 2007
where: ArtCar Museum
Read More

"One Show"

when: July 21 - 28, 2007
where: Elder Street Gallery
Read More

Art in City Hall

when: April 26, 11:30am
where: City Hall Annex
Read More

December's Children

Six established Houston artists
when: Dec. 14, 6pm
where: Lynn Michaels River Oaks Salon
3637 West Alabama

Online Shop

Reproductions of the Artist's work can be purchased online.

Philosophy

Philosophical Fragments:
Opposition to a Finer Hypocrisy

Today, there are many misconceptions and false assumptions about Art, Religion, and Philosophy. These have not occurred overnight, nor have they just suddenly appeared, though we in America have given them a finesse which few nations could. For my part, I am not claiming to be the ultimate authority, nor even an expert when it comes to these things, I am merely someone who can recognize the truth in something, or the lack thereof.

Over 150 years ago there was a Dutch philosopher/theologian who saw the falseness and hypocrisy in his society and he spoke out against it. He did obtain a measure of fame and notoriety in his time, however, he is an anathema to the modern American religious society. Throughout history there have been individuals who have stood against what was popular and accepted versus what was really true and morally correct. Rarely did these individuals receive from society what they should have, usually they were ridiculed and condemned, while years later after their threat had been removed, the same society which condemned them sang their praises.

History does repeat itself, and today it continues on as it always has. The truth is eternal and remains so regardless of what any society perceives or believes about it. I have and must always put the truth before my art, or rather I must include with my art the eternal and not the temporal. Without the acceptance of truth, one cannot accept the existence of God, and without acceptance of God, one cannot accept nor understand my art. However, those individuals who after much searching, refuse to accept the whole religious concept about God have a greater chance of understanding the concepts behind my work than those who without thinking or counting the cost, blindly accept what is commonly repeated about eternal matters.

In the work titled Philosophical Fragments, Soren Kierkegaard under the pseudonym of Johannes Climacus wrote against trusting in philosophy alone without faith in God. The following quote from this book symbolizes what I and perhaps a few others recognize:

"There has been much talk in the world about unhappy love, and everyone knows what the term means: that the lovers are unable to have each other. And the reasons --well there can be a host of them. There is another kind of unhappy love: the love of which we speak, to which there is no perfect earthly analogy but which we nevertheless, by speaking loosely for awhile, can imagine in an earthly setting. The unhappiness is the result not of the lovers being unable to have each other but of their being unable to understand each other. And this sorrow is indeed infinitely deeper than the sorrow of which people speak, for this unhappiness aims at the heart of love and wounds for eternity, unlike that other unhappiness, which affects only the external and temporal and which for the high-minded is only something of a jest about the lovers' not getting each other in time. This infinitely deeper sorrow is identified essentially with the superior person, for he alone also understands the misunderstanding. It is identified essentially only with the god, because no human situation can provide a valid analogy, even though we shall suggest one here in order to awaken the mind to an understanding of the divine."

I dedicate my work as that great philosopher and theologian S. Kierkegaard dedicated his to "that solitary individual whom I with joy and gratitude call my reader."


"Every man ought to make up his mind whether man or God is the measure of all things. If he accepts the former, he will always be subject to a multiplicity of standards as a member of society. But God is One, and there can be only one Truth and one standard for right and wrong." - Abraham Joshua Heschel


Proceeds from this web page and all art work produced, will ultimately go towards the assistance of crime victims, those less fortunate, and the helpless.