French artist, Honore Daumier (1808 – 1879), was a caricaturist, painter and more. Daumier’s art included topics on social and political life in contemporary France. The above work is Daumier’s Conciliatory Attitude of Those Who Called Themselves the “Moderate Party”.
When I read or see an issue that disturbs me, I like to sketch my thoughts. I usually do not share these sketches with my readers. I planned to post my painting but it is not completed. My painting is about the G20 June summit riot in Toronto, Canada. I first did 2 gestural sketches to determine my composition. I decided to call my work, The Triumph of Evil, based on Edmund Burke’s quote. “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men [and women] to do nothing.” I spoke to people in Toronto and they shared my concerns about the protesters. We were concerned about the inaction of the protesters. On the right side of my sketch, I drew a vandal dressed in black as the vandals dressed that day. The vandal’s raised arms held an axe and he was breaking a store window. On the left side were 3 identical protesters; their heads were turned to look the other way. I had planned to paint a vandal in black among the protesters. The vandals hid among the protesters to change out of their black clothes. I did not add this vandal to my block of protesters as I did not want that area to be my focal point. I was concerned about dividing my painting into 2 parts. I connected the vandal and protesters with the cracked line of the glass window, the line of the pavement and the elbow of the far right protester pointing to the vandal. I also painted the word, protester, on their signs in black. I did not model the figures. I will likely model the vandal to provide more substance and form to his figure. My painting is a dominant middle to dark value to emphasize the mood. I also decided that the dominant color temperature would be cool. I plan to complete my painting. I was going to delay or not share my post. Any delay or not post concerned me as I too would be doing nothing. I decided to share my thoughts of my painting and our concerns about that day.
As mentioned, I spoke with other people in Toronto after the riot and we asked:
Why did the protesters not stop the vandals? The protesters considerably outnumbered the vandals.
When the violence began, why did the protesters not leave the site? The vandals would be visible; they could not hide among the protesters. They would not be able to change out of their black clothes hidden by the protesters.
In August 2010 my paintings will be exhibited at the Art for All Canada’s Rainbow Gallery. The Gallery is at 80 Front St. East across from Toronto’s historic St. Lawrence Market. You enter the Gallery through Rainbow Cinemas, Market Square. Viewing the exhibits is free. At the top of this site is a link to Art for All Canada’s Gallery. Gallery hours are from 12:30 pm to 10:00 pm daily. My exhibit will be installed the afternoon on Friday July 30, 2010 and ends the morning of Monday August 30th. http://www.artforallcanada.org.
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