This is my participation for Endre Barath, Jr. 's contest about Art and Books on Active Rain. The inspiration for the contest was Paul Freed's painting above.
I saw this painting first some time ago when Endre wrote about the private exhibition where he had seen it. And because it was in the South California area, I kept thinking that this person had been a surfer before. He used to balance very well on the board on the uneven and ever changing surface of the ocean. People watched him from the shore and always admired his graceful movement and his balancing so beautifully on the board.
When he was thirty five he developed a deeper interest in philosophy. It was another vast space similar to the ocean, and where does he find the balance - so many different views on life and the meaning of life. He often asked himself - how can I achieve balance in my everyday life now?
He often visited his son's literature classes at his school and wondered how he can explain the books he was reading to them. He liked to make his message short, relevant and understandable to 13-year olds (who know everything) and as visual as he can be. Because the teacher would only give him 7 minutes of class time.
In the painting above, he is in his study, practicing a visual message for achieving balance of different points of view. And you can see, he is a bit nervous, even when everything is almost ready - the colored eye-glasses with one white, one blue glass; the books that will be balancing on his head. He is looking at himself in the mirror and his eye is as critical and observant as can be. He knows that if his son and his friends have at least one question, one wonder he would have achieved his goal, and made his daily contribution to set them on the path for searching and finding their truth within the world they live in.
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