Canaries Painting

Initially this painting came about via a Kurt Vonnegut quote: “I was perplexed as to what the usefulness of any of the arts might be, with the possible exception of interior decoration. The most positive notion I could come up with was what I call the canary-in-the-coal-mine theory of the arts. This theory argues that artists are useful to society because they are so sensitive. They are supersensitive. They keel over like canaries in coal mines filled with poison gas, long before more robust types realize that any danger is there.” When I first painted this, the canaries were in a dark black abyss, with only the light of the coal mine entrance at the bottom. However, I decided I didn’t want to be stuck with that grimness. Instead, I reversed the painting and added color and the piece became more hopeful.