For artists, concepts present themselves in unexpected ways. Why or how the artist responds to them is sometimes just as much of a mystery to the artist as it is to the artist’s audience. Freudian reasons aside, there are many avenues for inspiration & pathways to creative new lands.

My wife had this small decorative chair she no longer wanted. It’s one of those objects that you say to yourself, “why would someone make this?”. That’s probably the reason why she wanted to throw it out. It’s a small wooden chair with a hole in the seat for a miniature pot in which to place a plastic flower or dried botanticals. It fits on a bookshelf. Thoughtlessly I placed some dead stalks from our landscaping plantings in the seat of this diminutive chair…. that triggered an evocative image in my mind, the stalks reminded me of the largest artery in our body, the aorta. We only have one aorta….but, hey, I’m employing artistic license in this painting. My painting, my rules, my delusion.

I then thought about chairs a lot….. they can be many things…… they can represnt a loved one or a friend, chairs can be objects of veneration, a place of rest, a place to contemplate, a place to eat, a place of torture, a throne, or the final seat to the afterlife via public execution… take your pick – gas chamber or electricity.

“Aortas in a Chair, Aortas They Don’t Care”, 30” H x 35” W, Acrylic on ragboard, © 2024 John Jude Palencar

The title “Aortas in a Chair – Aortas They Don’t Care” is nonsensical. The spiral on the floor of this alt-realism painting is a ubiqutious symbol that I have seen firsthand on the ancient stones in Ireland. This symbol may represent the unknown or the eternal – beginnings or endings? Who knows… it’s nonsensical, enigmatic. I’ve placed the chair in one of my “nowhere rooms” filled with cloud patterns and rays of light. There are other hidden things in there. I’ve also tipped my creative hat to the master of the optical illusion – M.C. Escher.

May you all find your own chair and be well rested. Take a seat!

-JJP