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| "Bravery," by Ted Fullerton. |
Artist's Note
In considering my own cultural and personal experience of bravery it would be difficult for me not to also consider its opposite, cowardice or spiritlessness. Bravery or the courage to “do the right thing” is an aspect of any cultural teaching. It defines how we respond physically or verbally during situations of injustice without being frightened or hesitant of our own personal harm or how we are perceived. It is an action of righteousness that should supersede any cultural divide or act of injustice.
I am interested in expressing how the sign and symbol infer symbolically the breadth of cultural associations as mirror and metaphor - meaning. The central orange figure is taking an anatomical pose, exposing “self” directly, honestly, and “openly” to the viewer. The gestural blue brushstrokes around the head of the orange figure associate and are symbolic of knowledge and understanding - in this case the ability to realize and know when an act of injustice presents itself and to react appropriately. This is what I and others have been taught and encouraged to respond to personally and culturally by family and within theological and moral teachings.
Peer pressure, self-interest, ridicule, prejudice, a “herd” mentality, and ignorance can and does generate a cowardice reaction - to avoid confronting or speaking to an injustice. The colour yellow - at the lower bottom of the painting - gesturally painted around the chicken - is a colour characterized culturally and is intended to symbolize an act of cowardice.
The colour red is dominant within the inserted canvas placed over the solar plexus, “the heart” of the standing orange figure and symbolizes empathy, affection, understanding and courage. When the colours red and yellow are mixed they create the colour orange.
The figure is deliberately painted orange where the colour of yellow (cowardice) and red (bravery) symbolically co-exist as a conflicting reality of human actuality. However, the inserted red panel of an emerging defiant Phoenix - the bird that rose out from its own ashes and became more magnificent and assertive as a result - is intended to be emblematic of “courageous action” - Bravery.
In considering my own cultural and personal experience of bravery it would be difficult for me not to also consider its opposite, cowardice or spiritlessness. Bravery or the courage to “do the right thing” is an aspect of any cultural teaching. It defines how we respond physically or verbally during situations of injustice without being frightened or hesitant of our own personal harm or how we are perceived. It is an action of righteousness that should supersede any cultural divide or act of injustice.
I am interested in expressing how the sign and symbol infer symbolically the breadth of cultural associations as mirror and metaphor - meaning. The central orange figure is taking an anatomical pose, exposing “self” directly, honestly, and “openly” to the viewer. The gestural blue brushstrokes around the head of the orange figure associate and are symbolic of knowledge and understanding - in this case the ability to realize and know when an act of injustice presents itself and to react appropriately. This is what I and others have been taught and encouraged to respond to personally and culturally by family and within theological and moral teachings.
Peer pressure, self-interest, ridicule, prejudice, a “herd” mentality, and ignorance can and does generate a cowardice reaction - to avoid confronting or speaking to an injustice. The colour yellow - at the lower bottom of the painting - gesturally painted around the chicken - is a colour characterized culturally and is intended to symbolize an act of cowardice.
The colour red is dominant within the inserted canvas placed over the solar plexus, “the heart” of the standing orange figure and symbolizes empathy, affection, understanding and courage. When the colours red and yellow are mixed they create the colour orange.
The figure is deliberately painted orange where the colour of yellow (cowardice) and red (bravery) symbolically co-exist as a conflicting reality of human actuality. However, the inserted red panel of an emerging defiant Phoenix - the bird that rose out from its own ashes and became more magnificent and assertive as a result - is intended to be emblematic of “courageous action” - Bravery.