Many years ago, I visited Moab Utah with my wife, Andrea. Many folks were certain I should visit there. After seeing my volumes of paintings that reminded them of both the landscape of that area and the imagery that the ancient peoples had left behind there, they thought I had perhaps already been. Although I have no interest in living there, I was certainly "at home" in a way that surprised me and moved me.
At our most elemental levels we are mystical. When so often today we see "alien" as something frightening, threatening, I find nourishment in seeing the alien as a metaphor for all that we have not come to know.... yet. For all that we have not found value in... yet. There is a primal power in seeing the alien in ourselves and others. It is part of our being that is bigger than we imagine ourselves to be... when we are afraid.
Here is to circling jupiter, marching through streets and healing ourselves without the comfort of a plan.
Here is to the long lines of humans who looked into the darkness and saw stars.
This is the poem written after visiting:
This is the video, part of my sonem (song/poem) sketchbook process. The images are from old paintings of mine or actual shots I took when in Utah. Although the sound quality isn't great, I'm enjoying just fooling around again with the simple tools available on the mac and the iphone.
Moab Alien
click on the image below for the video
