We went to the MFA yesterday to see the Guston exhibit. The exhibit was well done and did a good job navigating the challenging imagery necessary to include in an exhibit about Guston’s work. There were videos from the 60s civil right’s movement in the exhibit and I found myself standing in front of them with tears in my eyes because I can not help think how bad things are today. Even with all the progress made toward civil rights and diversity and discussions around racism, the resistance has grown in strength and power and all the progress that has been made seems to be threatened. I know from Joel, who was a student of Guston’s when he taught at Brandeis, Guston was a deeply intellectual and thoughtful man. This particular quote really struck me as an artist whose work has always been about my processing what is occurring around me.
“So as I read this (referring to the 1966 book Treblinka), and my mind starts running away with everything I read or touch or see, I began to see all of life really as a vast concentration camp. And everybody is numbed…Then I thought, ‘Well that’s the only reason to be an artist: To escape, to bear witness to this.’”
