Text from Yeah Maybe #7 in July of 2016

 

To whom it may concern:

 

I don’t want to make sad paintings anymore. I want to make things better. I want to combat our tendency to see joy as cliché, to push back against the commodification of wellness, and to halt the erosion of value in togetherness. As the presence of the digital expands, so too does our acceptance of the sterility and numbness with which we move about our days.

 

There is no going back.

 

But I believe it is our job as artists, now more than ever, to find an avenue in which uninhibited feeling and true connection can exist in earnest, despite the abundance of blue light and bad news. The futures of everything we hold dear may well depend on it.

 

For me, it starts today. This body of work is my first step. I want to feel close to you, and you to me. I want us to allow ourselves to see and feel the sublime in every waking moment. Just as each day we choose to rise each morning, I want us to make the choice to seek connection, beauty, and a better world. I’m quite certain that I’m destined to fail. I’m not entirely convinced that any work by even the greatest artist could achieve these things. At least I’m trying.

 

Let’s get to work, I love you

 

-Danny