The Ultimate Indignity

Anyone who follows my art knows that I am a huge fan of the Belgian surrealist, Rene Magritte. I'm in a Magritte Facebook group and a recent post I saw referenced his death and I posted a painting I had done about 5 years ago called, "Somewhere in Belgium". It featured a man in a bowler hat sitting on a park bench, looking at a statue of a man in a bowler hat. As is often the case with me, one thought led to another and I decided to paint another man in a bowler hat statue - and this time, there would be a pigeon perched on his head, having just done what pigeons are known to do on statues. I decided this would be the first 'pigeon poop stain' to hit the statue, making it stand out and thus the name of, "The Ultimate Indignity". The name of the painting goes even a little deeper, though. Every one of us, at one time or another has had that feeling of being 'sh@t upon'. I know I certainly have. Creating an iconic statue of the man in the bowler hat - and then having a pigeon spoil the overall look, serves as a metaphor about life itself. Not everything is going to go our way in life and sometimes there simply isn't anything we can do about it. This visual experience offers a gentle reminder of life’s unpredictable encounters.