VIEW IN MY ROOM
You Are Either With Us or Against Us Painting
Australia
Painting, Pastel on Other
Size: 78.7 W x 39.4 H x 1 D in
Artist Recognition
Artist featured in a collection
About The Artwork
Some nine days after the September 11 attacks, President George Bush infamously pronounced: “Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.” There have been many interpretations of this statement, although few would be surprised to know its’ biblical source: Matthew 12:30 “He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad”. But where Matthew 12:31 goes on to talk of forgiveness, Bush made no such overtures. Further complicating the issue is that although this statement denies neutrality or alternative opinion, it demands global allegiance to a particular brand of ideology that was never actually defined. Is it requiring compliance to the US spiritual, political or financial hegemony? Or all three? This metaphorical painting is a response to the absurdity of reducing such complicated issues to such simplistic absolutes. A symbol of wealth, power and status, the velvet rope divides the “opposing forces.” Yet its only strength is attributed power: as a barrier it offers no actual resistance. More united than divided, the participants are simply sharing the same field. As are we all. It is a lesson from which mankind might well take heed, for we are all of the same flock sharing the same small piece of Earth, separated only by the imagined barriers of our own myth-making.
Details & Dimensions
Painting:Pastel on Other
Original:One-of-a-kind Artwork
Size:78.7 W x 39.4 H x 1 D in
Frame:Not Framed
Ready to Hang:No
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Australia
Matthew was featured in BRW as one of Australia's top 50 artists. In the past few years he's won, or been a finalist for, more than 70 major national art awards. He's had 14 solo and 80 group shows. He's painted all his life but allowed himself to be distracted by other careers, working variously as a lecturer, art-director, photographer & writer. His first novel was short-listed for the Vogel Literary Award. He's lived in Australia, the UK, Portugal & Malaysia, and once camped for several months beneath a grand piano. He spent nights under stars in India, under-ground in Bolivia, under surveillance in Burma and under-nourished in London. His scariest moment was having machine-gun shoved in his face during Nepalese anti-monarchy riots, although crashing a para-glider into a forest was also something of a highlight.
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