John Storrow

  This story has a happier ending I hope, perhaps it will come to me after I write this first part. The other day I was scrolling through Instagram yet again, feeling bored, un-inspired, disconnected from the world, generally disillusioned. This happens often, I just let it take its natural course and observe what happens next. Maybe go play my guitar instead, or watch a movie.  So I came across an ad on instagram for a book you can buy that teaches you how to forge “Connections” with viewers in order to have a “successful” career. I already knew what it probably said. Go be socially connected so your work can be socially connected, the book probably said, in my mind. At the same time  I have also lately been reading about the Buddhist teaching of “no self” I take this idea to mean that there is no permanent self identity that people have, because thoughts are like clouds constantly changing, and that awareness is the key to happiness. Perhaps being socially connected is ...

  For this painting, which is another 11 x 14 panel, I again wanted to explore the possibilities of implied movement in a still image. My deep passion and understanding of the sheer physicality of things is the way I connect to the world in a primal way.   This  painting is also another “Miraculous alignment” because, as you can see, the hang glider just happens to be in mid air in perfect alignment with the top deck of the catamaran, a bit like an imaginary photo. I don’t know what it means on a deeper level, maybe it has to do with wanting all the parts of the  world to fit together and make sense, perhaps through the magic of a cartoon (painting) 

  This painting was the result of much thought and sketching. Can you make out the thin blue racing stripe on the two wheeled machine? It’s another one of my “Miraculous alignment” pictures. It depicts the precise moment, in my imagination, when a two wheeled machine holding four cups, is in perfect alignment with four cups that are hanging from above. To make it even more interesting, the ones hanging down are balanced on a curved sculptural form, which is supported by a tall cone on a floating ship. What could possibly go wrong with that you ask? Absolutely nothing, it all worked perfectly at the right moment, even though none of it ever actually happened in real life.  I don’t know, maybe this miraculous alignment thing has something to do with how life is so complicated and confusing, and nothing seems to come together the right way when you want it to, except you can make it happen magically in a painting.