Windward Review

I like to mix images inspired by beautiful tiny spots with
beauty on grand scales, such as in many Hubble photographs of
planets, stars, galaxies. My art also often juxtaposes elements in
ways that defy distance and time. So it seems appropriate to borrow
the term magic realism from fiction writers and apply it to much of
my graphic art.
Years ago one of my art teachers declared that anyone can
do pretty art, that what she wanted from her students was art that
had something to say, even if that 'something' made the art harsh,
difficult, and ugly. I do some pushing back on that idea. Why not
seek beauty while still creating art that speaks of difficult issues?
And why not strive for beauty for its own sake? Robert Browning
gave the following lines to the painter Fra Lippo Lippi:
If you get simple beauty and nought else,
You get about the best thing God invents:
That's somewhat
I agree, and I want to make my art attractive enough that
people would want to hang it in their homes, as well as have it be
artwork suggesting ideas that they can analyze, if they want.
Currently Andrew Geyer, Terry Dalrymple and I are
writing Magic, Mystery, and Madness, a book of ekphrastic stories
and poetry that connects our writing with various pieces of my
graphic magic realism. We decided in setting up the project that
the writing might or might not include elements of literary magic
realism. The ekphrastic stories and poems in this issue of Windward
Review will be a part of our upcoming book. -Jerry Craven
Civility + You
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