Artist Statement

 

          after Hiroshima by Janet Sobel, 1948

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Every artist destroys

one thing to create another.

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You destroyed a pristine canvas

to re-create the destruction

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someone believed was needed

to restore peace to the world.

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And though your painting

does not reflect like a mirror,

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the face that stares back at me

through irradiated hues

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of yellows, reds, and blues,

transforms and fuses

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into my own face, a creator's

face and the face of a destroyer.

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In the end, every work of art

is its own little Hiroshima.

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