DELIVER US FROM SADNESS

DELIVER US FROM SADNESS (SOLD!) 12" X  9"  Acrylic on Canvas Board by Roopa Dudley

The usual comment my husband makes when he looks at my Paintings is "Another Beautiful yet Disturbing Painting". He stares at my Painting for a few minutes in silence, shakes his head, looks at me and walks away feeling melancholy. This often leaves me dejected and discombobulated. This has been going on for the past three years I have been painting on regular basis. On the bright side however, I am relieved to know that he did not say "interesting" which happens to be the most dreaded word to say to any artist including me. Call is offensive, repulsive, disgusting, disturbing, beautiful, happy, colorful, ugly, inspiring, thought provoking, intriguing, refreshing, grotesque but for the love of Chocolates please do NOT call it interesting. Those are simply fighting words. 

As with my previous paintings I have used symbolism, amulets, and color to express the disturbing world. I could have not done it through words alone. I consider this painting the exact opposite of my previous SPLENDOROUS PASTIMES painting. Here the series of unfortunate events starting from mid 1990s to this time that have dominated my thoughts. Thoughts that haunt me and boil my blood.

The Gears as usual are here representing time and how everything is connected to everything else. There is a reference to the Knights Templar (time for them to rise again), the Twin Towers that once stood tall and made the NYC skyline so glorious, the Mosque that was permitted to be built there (a slap in the face and salt in our wounds to say the least), the persecution of Jews, and how rapidly our skyline now is basically turning into a huge graveyard (with all kinds of memorial walls).

The vase in the center bearing "Nazar" (the Turkish Evil Eye amulet) bearing five Blue Lilies. Someone I know who is a Medical Doctor in Orlando Florida lost his entire family in a horrific automobile accident on April 19th 2013. There is no logical explanation for this except that a lot of people were envious of him because he seemed to have everything. History reveals that Egyptians used to use Blue Lilies in funerals so I opted to choose that to represent the five family members that he lost.

The grave of  Somer Renee Thompson  (April 5th, 2002 - October 19th, 2009) which lays in the front and center. Oh dear. On the Headstone it reads "Somer Thompson - Raped, Asphyxiated and Dumped in Garbage by Pedophile Jarred Harell". A soar subject for me and for many people I bet. I still have nightmares thinking about the final moments of that girl since the day I found out what had happened to her. There is no place for Pedophiles on this planet. They are not welcomed here and we need to do everything in our power to educate our children about their ugly existence. Times have changed. We are not safe and we must be vigilant. We are in a dire need of vigilantes and the Knights Templar. The Sheep-Dogs to keep the Wolves at Bay.