The Black Coat Project - The New York Sessions - Diana Drawing

"Of all the world's warriors, artists are still the most noble and free." ~ anonymous South African poet When I lived in Spain, the horrors of the Franco years were just beginning to be talked about. For years after the dictator's death, these events had been a taboo subject. One of the aspects of his reign that emerged was the role that artists played in the failed revolution. Every artist that I met of the previous generation had spent time in prison; some had been tortured. Artists were particularly feared by the fascists; they had the power, and the voice, to speak compellingly against the brutal regime. In a more haphazard, intuitive way, I have been trying to be that kind of artist - to lend my talent and my voice to the causes of reason and civility. The quality in art that I most admire is the kind of harmony and clarity that touches deep in the soul. This is what I am compelled to deliver through my images. My experiences in Spain were not responsible for setting me on this course, but they did provide a tangible, historic context around what I had always felt was my duty as an artist -- to speak of the things we are not allowed to utter and provide lightening rods for collective feelings of anger, despair, and disgust. The subjects of, and audience for, my work are universal; I privilege no particular age, no gender, and no social strata. Perhaps because of its universal message, my work hangs in the boardrooms of international business conglomerates and the studios of iconic musicians. But what I am most proud of is the affection that the under-represented, disenfranchised and disaffected have for my art. I feel that my ability to communicate with the collective zeitgeist through pictures comes with a responsibility to speak up, and speak out. My passion for picture making is grounded in this desire to engage the deepest currents driving our culture and society today - forces rooted in history, spiritual identity, and belief. I had the good fortune, early in my development as an artist, to understand that my talent for representation was a potent device with which to address cultural ideas, ideologies, and dogmas. As an artist, I can present ideas that go against the canon, with deconstructive methods our most trusted institutions are unable, and unwilling, to embrace.