Vincent

[Intended for publication on July 29th]. On July 29th...1890...Vincent Willem van Gogh...painter...born on March 30th...1853...
in Groot-Zundert...Netherlands...died...in Auvers-sur-Oise...France. One hundred and fifteen years on...I remember how his
pictures connected with me...when I first saw them...many years ago. In them I saw...darkness and madness...and the
suffering of human beings...but I also saw the beauty and the life force...rising above that. His paintings had gotten through
to me before I knew anything about his life. Later...I found out that he had sold one painting in his life time...and that at
the age of thirty-seven...he had taken his own life. Through my own difficult times as an artist...he bacame a source of
inspiration...reminding me about how the ability to manipulate the media...or to create a phoney public persona...or to
cultivate people who will help to further your career...is not really what being an artist is about`...although these things have
been known to happen. Vincent...became an on-going reminder to me...of what it is to be an artist. I am not impressed by
the millions his pictures have sold for since his passing on... I know that is not about artist's work...I am instead...inspired by the pictures themselves...and how he kept his focus on making them...throughout his short life...surrounded by a sea of indifference...delivering on the one thing that makes someone an artist...and that is...doing artist's work...................Quester.