Late art

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLrz0vMOhU4

Dear Chris, you were so important throughout the years. Apart from your songwriting and artistry, whenever discussion ever questioned the greatest RnR voice of all time, I always said it was between you and Plant. I got your latest album and listened to it a lot last year, another renewal of comfort, just like all those years before--it was like Thank Heaven you're still around. But now you're not. I'm sad, but I know it's OK. If your kids are so moved I hope they bust onto the scene when they're ready. You made so much great art man. This song will always make me feel like crying, or fierce and empowered, or both--or just wistful, marveling at it all. You knocked this life out of the park man. So much love and appreciation to you. Peace, peace, peace, to your loved ones at this time of your passing. Thank you.

Waxes/oils/pigments on rag board

Novel Excerpt:

    The next day in the van, rushing to the next town while straightening out bills, winding through Vermont or New Hampshire, as green hills dotted with black and white cows, and big red barns, passed by outside, Johnny says, “Hey Jack, we know we exist because we’re doing something—we’re thinking—and that existence and everything in it is a giant duality composed of opposites. But what about opinion? Is there only right and wrong opinion?”

    “You mean the never-ending battle between the subjective and objective?”

    “And there it is!” he exclaimed. “I’ve never understood what that means!”

    “What does what mean?” asked Kate from the front seat.

    “I’ve heard this term my whole life,” Johnny replied, “and never been able to figure out what it means.”

    “What?”

    “Say it again Jack.”

    “Subjective or objective?”

    “Yeah—subjective and objective opinion! What is it?!”

    “Wait,” replied Kate, “objective opinion? Is there such thing?”

    “Yeah—that’s a contradiction,” followed Marcus, “you can’t have an objective opinion.”

    “Some think there’s no such thing—that it’s oxymoronic—”

    “Right—opinion is subjective—facts are objective,” says Kate.

    “College boy is losing his marbles,” says Cooper.

    “Is that true?” asks Johnny.

    “I’ll explain it with a question—what’s the best pizza?”

    “Pepperoni,” replied Johnny.

    “Veggie,” says Kate.

    “Now, what’s the best car?” I ask.

    “Best car is a truck,” Cooper quipped.

    “A Mercedes, of course,” purred Kate.

    “I’ll take a Mustang,” said Johnny.

    “Marcus?”

    “Anything made by Italians.”

    “OK, now what’s the best vacation?”

    “Fiji,” Cooper says.

    “Yeah, South Pacific,” joined Kate.

    “No way—mountains,” added Johnny.

    “OK, what’s the best baseball team?”

    “New York Yankees,” says Cooper.

    “Red Sox!” exclaims Johnny.

    “You better sleep with one eye open,” replies Cooper.

    “All those things—best food, best car, best vacation, best team—they’re all questions of opinion that can’t be answered by anyone but the individual.”

    “Exactly right,” says Kate. “They are all subjective. You can’t have objective opinion.”

    “But if opinion is the paradigm,” says Johnny, “and at one end is subjective opinion, doesn’t it have to be objective opinion at the other end of the continuum?”

    “Let’s explain it with football. How is your your team going to do this year Cooper?”

    “The Bears, they’ll do all right,” he says, “they’re building the team this year.”

    “Johnny, who’s your team?”

    “The Dolphins are going all the way this year!”

    “I like the Dolphins this year,” shot Cooper.

    “In other words, we know the objective facts before a game. We know what the rosters say—who’s out injured. We know if it’s an older team against a young team. Who is coming off a win? Who is going off a loss—how they played against each other last time they met. All that stuff gels into an opinion about who is going to win. After the game, the opinion was either accurate or not. In other words, an objective opinion can become a fact with time. A subjective opinion will never be a fact.”

    “Like if I say the Dolphins win by two touchdowns this week, and they do, that opinion just became fact.”

    “Right.”

    “So it will never be a fact your favorite pizza is best,” Johnny says, “but there’s stuff that’s true for everyone.”

    “And so what this means people,” says Cooper, “is those who make opinions that turn out to be true all the time? Those are people we call smart. That means when I’m talking, you all should be listening.” He held a straight face for a second before breaking into his giggle.

    “What’s another for opinion, or is there only the subjective-objective?” Johnny asks. 

    “The rational and irrational is another paradigm.”

    “OK, what’s that?”

    “Some opinions have a basis in reality and are rational—and some have no basis in reality and are irrational.”

    “Like what?”

    “Like believing there are monsters in the dark.”

    “So believing something like a kid, because there are no monsters in the dark, is irrational.”

    “Right.”

    “Are there any other paradigms for opinion?”

    “I don’t think so.”

Tomorrow you'll be home

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