In May of 2019 I completed my painting entitled 'ENLIGHTENED'. This painting is a portrait of Benjamin Franklin based on the bust by Jean - Jacques Caffieri. I was inspired to paint Ben by a Instagram art prompt called 30 Days of Dead People. Being a Philly Guy, I knew I had to create my own unique Ben Franklin painting.
By this time, my style had been evolving from having backgrounds that were pure chaos to including more meaningful elements. With this painting I did a field of blue at the top of the canvas which graduated to purple, then maroon, and finally brown. At the bottom of the canvas I roughly painted a series of keys, with lightning bolts at the top and strikes connecting them.
How about another progress shot?
So now that you know how the painting came together visually, lets talk about the title. I felt like 'ENLIGHTENED' was the perfect title for this painting. Benjamin Franklin was such a visionary and a renaissance man. Researching all of his inventions and contributions to society was really eye opening. It struck me that this period of time or age was foundational for all of the developments that have happened up to our current time. And it is so interesting to me how focused people of Ben Franklin's time were on the practical science of how everything worked. It's such an interesting contrast between that outlook and the outlook that I'm experiencing in this modern age.
Arguably we are benefiting from advancements in technology that would have appeared to be the result of magic to people of Benjamin Franklin's time. And in a way it seems like magic even to us now. It's just that we have become accustomed to the magic. For the most part, none of us have a clear understanding of what makes the technology that we take for granted possible. We take the information swirling around us completely for granted. This allows a small class of ultra educated people behind the scenes to have an incredible amount of power.
What I can't seem to understand is how comfortable the majority of people on this planet are with their own ignorance, and with the corresponding surrender of control and autonomy that comes with allowing other's to control information. I know it sounds like I would be promoting all kinds of conspiracy theories with that previous sentence, but actually all of conspiracy theories that are widely circulated are the most disturbing development in all of this. Why is it that so many people will believe anything that is said in an authoritative voice? Have we surrendered our need for truth, as long as we think that someone else is completely convinced? Why don't we ask for evidence any more? Why do we no longer value ENLIGHTENMENT?
If you would like to look at this painting and ponder these questions, see my listings for the original, or for a beautiful print!