Garden of Selves

Robert & Shana ParkeHarrison are incredible image-makers whose playful images tell a wonderful story of life after what we now know occurs. Thier images are full of wonderfully dreamlike characters that live in a world that resembles ours, but tends to shift towards the fantasy and dream world. They each tell a different chapter of the story. The elaborate constructions draw us in… to this made up world full of hope and devastation, reality and fantasy, peace and conflict.

This is ParkeHarrison’s image, Garden of Selves. An image where a man dressed in a common black suit with a starched white dress shirt awakens out of an open box to his astonishment, surrounded by a sea of boxes containing what seems to be exact replicas of himself, all in a state of slumber, all ready in a sense to have the same experience only at a later time.

Will each of these selves in the garden be the same person, with the same aspirations, the same goals, the same personalities and experiences, or is each one differently conformed into their own unique individual by their separate experiences which seem to be only different by the time separating their awakenings? Is our life, personality, and character traits, controlled solely by our genetic makeup… by a code, a predetermined blueprint…or is it our surroundings, our family, our experiences and time that control who we ultimately are? One hopes for the latter… that we can each create our own destiny, our own person… to do and think and create as we choose…

This image also offers a great juxtaposition between that being contained verses that being freed… the numbers and numbers of men being contained and restrained, hidden in a way from the reality of what lies outside of their box… sheltered form the truth, unaffected by the devastation surrounding their pod-like containers. This is contradicted with the lone man stepping out. It’s as if he has awoken from years of slumber, years of veiled knowledge, and in a moment, he has become enlightened to the world, to this garden of others, others that resemble himself… It’s as if he’s eaten the fruit, or taken the red pill, and been enlightened to a knowledge that he wishes he could forget, a knowledge with a devastating truth full of questions…who are these others? Why have they not been released? Will they receive enlightenment? When? Questions that could only be answered by time… only to be asked by the next in line…

why even bother?

Why is it that some of the most talented artists fail to get recognized as such?

As an art professor, this can be quite discouraging at times. There are moments when you just want to grab your said student by the shoulders and shake them into understanding... that even though their work didn't get into the show, didn't get an award (because those awards all went to painting even though they were by far not the best in the show, but that is what the juror liked), didn't get a scholarship, or recognized for great artistic achievement...that despite all of those things, they are indeed amazing. That they have produced some of the most beautiful and insightful pieces of work you have seen in a long time. That they inspire you and challenge you to work harder. That the world of art can be terrible, and unfair and make you want to give up.

So here's my soapbox of encouragement:
Don't give up. Don't give up on challenging yourself. Make that frustration a part of your work, instead of inhibiting it. There is a time for you to shine. There will be that moment of recognition, when someone connects with your work... whether it be a juror, or an award, or a quiet moment of a person that notices your work as more than just pretty or well executed, that moment where your work has changed thier life forever... that is why we make art, that is why we can never give up making it, no matter how many shows we get rejected from, no matter how discouraged we get... because we are making it for that one moment.