Break
Oil on Canvas
24 x 24”
What gets to be art? Who gets to make it?
This painting considers the conditions under which a creation becomes a ‘work of art,’ and who is given credit for its creation. The main design of this painting was directly copied from a mathematical drawing, done with pencil and paper, by Joe Bennett. The poem, which fills the sides of the canvas, was written by Joe Bennett on the back of the same piece of paper.
Break By Joseph Denver Yingling Bennett
Morning breaks like glass,
All splintering through the firmament
From a single moment of impact,
Bloody and Gaping,
Where Earth dares kiss sky: Horizon
Oaths break like fingers,
No seeping wound, no broken flesh,
But hands become knotted roots:
No longer straight and fine and rigid,
No longer fit to clasp;
A noble purpose buckling to alien pressures.
Ground, Silence, News, Hearts, Strides, Records.
Through, Up, Out, Down, Off.
Always a moment
Conversing with another