JOHN TOMLINSON

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As a man I think a lot about the vulnerability of men, about how that vulnerability, so human an attribute, so much in our nature, leads that large part of the human race to mask it with gestures, expressions and behavior of anger, dominance and cruelty.

My little men, alone in the surrounding dark and storm, fearful in nature, cling to the magical screen as if it promises warmth, light and the comfort of faraway others but offers coldness, blankness , aloneness and loss.

Yet contradictions abound, so the little device is smart and beautiful in its design and technology and is full of hope in what it promises and might offer if all men, big and little, if all humankind, cause the light to illuminate and enlighten and replace threat with awe and beauty.

I know as an artist that art has no answers but rather asks questions about the life and world we share.

My magical screen is the space of the picture plane where my art asks the questions with my own gestures and expressions of fulfillment and joy.

John Tomlinson, artist, Lumberland, New York, 2020