SAFARI SUNSET

Piece by: Jan-Hendrik Lourens (NIP)

Acrylic and oil paint on canvas

This piece partially expresses the admiration of a beautiful, primitive culture, living in harmony with the ground and the skies at the dusk of a face grabbing sunset. To me this represents contentness. On the other hand, it shows the separation of culture. In the bottom left of the painting an individual can be spotted sitting on a tree log, perhaps reading or drawing something. To me, this is myself, as I sit and draw what I see. Though admiring this beautiful culture, it is conflicting because I know that the culture I am from is not this. I’m an outsider viewing in. My culture is always moving forward and “progressing…” My culture is the mere opposite of this enitire piece of art. This gives me conflicting thoughts about our western society and the way we live our lives, being slaves to the material nature of our secular world, and doing nothing but consume, consume, consume…