I recently read John Steinbeck’s East of Eden for the first time, and it had such a profound affect on me. If you’ve read it, you know it’s an epic story of a family with contrasting/competing brothers. For me it’s about the conflict of good and evil, making choices and finding our own way through life. Although the events of my life have very little in common with the events in the book, I feel that somehow it describes my experience.
While in London last year, I heard a song by the British rock band Madness called “Simple Equation.” Madness sings of “wrong versus right” and “the calculation of good over bad” in a very elementary straightforward way. Nowadays I think about a couple of lines of the lyrics often: “It’s the days that separate the nights; it’s the shadows by which we recognize the light.”
Some of the inspiration to make the work that’s in this show came from East of Eden and “Simple Equation.” They each address the importance of both the dark and the light. Can we see one without the other?
The pieces you see here address the power of opposites – they don’t give answers, they ask questions. They’re each derived from found photographs. Some are based on news photos of Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson; they are the two young men who murdered Matthew Sheppard, a gay college student, in Laramie, Wyoming in 1998. When I discovered those photos, that’s when the questions began… Are Aaron and Russell my enemy? Would they think that I’m their enemy? Aren’t there those who believe that Aaron and Russell are heroes and that what they did was right? Should I be angry or afraid or can I recognize the light in Aaron and Russell?
These are large oil pastel drawings, mostly 43” x 43”, sometimes paired with printed text. The words aren’t meant to be captions, but they do help tell the story. I want you to have to look at Aaron and Russell’s faces, but I also want you to know what they did.
However I don’t want to return hate with more hate. I believe we each have some of Aaron and Russell in us. Can’t I sometimes be the loving/caring friend who accepts all people and at other times be the ignorant bigot who hates? Can I see Aaron and Russell’s light while acknowledging their darkness? Aren’t they part of my family? Am I not their brother?
There are some other images here too – also addressing opposites. In each one I find questions much more important than answers. Don’t you?
- Michael A. Pierce, July 2004
1986 - 1990 Artist member of 1708 Gallery, Richmond, VA
1972 Graduated with a BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University
Represented in various private and public collections including Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, Wheat First Securities, Inc., and E. R. Carpenter Company of Richmond, VA