Botanica Ascensus

redtreetimes

Jul 27

Botanica Ascensus- At the West End Gallery

We rise by lifting others.

― Robert Ingersoll

I wanted to write about this new painting, Botanica Ascensus, which translates as Climbing Botanical, and went looking for some words, a quote or excerpt, to kick off the post. I came across the terse four words above from Robert Ingersoll and thought that they pretty much captured the essence of this painting, at least as I see it.

None of us is truly self-made or self-sustaining. None of us exists totally independent of others nor live in a vacuum. None of us has risen to any point in life without the aid and efforts of others.

We simply climb up the structures, those existing vines in this analogy, that have grown before our coming. Those vines support us as we grow higher and higher, allowing us to make the most of our circumstance.

And, hopefully, one day others will climb up our stems and vines, using them as the support they require in order to show the beauty of their own flowers.

Maybe that's a somewhat tortured reading of the painting and I should just focus on the colors and the tone and structure of the piece or how it came about.

Maybe.

But I like-- and need-- the reminder of our interdependence that I see in this piece. That it comes in what I hope is an attractive manner is just icing on the cake.

Botanica Ascensus is, of course, part of my current solo show at the West End Gallery. It is 26" by 8" on paper.

FYI-- I used the short quote from Robert Ingersoll at the top. I have mentioned him here several times, including a post dedicated to his life. I think he may be the most interesting character in 19th century America whose name is unknown to most of us. Ingersoll was idolized by the greats of that era in the late 1800's. Thomas Edison extolled his wisdom, Walt Whitman considered him the living epitome of Leaves of Grass, and Frederick Douglass saw him as being on the same level with Lincoln. He was a lawyer and orator, known as the Great Agnostic, giving speeches to huge crowds wherever he went. He was perhaps one of the most best-known people of that era in America, yet he remains a small footnote now. Here's hoping more folks take note of his life and the words they left behind. Both are extraordinary.