The Painting (that is here).

What if painting were a pattern of life? The disintegration of meaning has become the title of our time- of our lives here and now. The significance of knowledge, of truth, of justice, all unravels. We disintegrate outward and inward. In our constructive manner, we build barricades of explanations that collapse into themselves. Everything disintegrates, decomposes.

Where, then, do we retreat to find a firm hold- a meaning? What options remain before us? How do we shift responsibility away from ourselves and pass it on? We are fully aware that closing our eyes does not stop anything- perhaps it makes it more bearable.

Is this how we live?

And yet, perhaps painting offers another possibility—

The possibility of movement between matter and image (meaning) offers a chance to recognize not only that movement, but also its reverse. That is, the ability of colour to be - to presence. Recognizing this presence is an ethical disposition, not merely a visual experience.

Vision becomes the sensory realisation of morality.

What do we see? What do we discern from observation? What do we pass by without noticing? These are not merely questions of corneal sensation. Their roots extend beyond the aesthetic into the ethical; they carry social, cultural, and political implications. Painting offers us a constant movement between image and matter, the possibility of the image to return and manifest as colour, to be liberated from function and recognise its primal nature, its presence. In a myriad of possibilities between observing and ignoring, the painting chooses the former, compelling us to observe as a stance. In painting, substance (the colour) is an active participant -not just a tool, we consider it, reverberate its resonance internally and relate to it, just remember: indifference and alienation reverberate within too.

The possibility that oil tears might provoke a smile, is the possibility of embracing multiplicity- to be both. In the face of the unified meaning, painting is always subversive. Even in its most disciplined form, it remains painting, always touched with self-irony. Certainty is a personal interpretation, yet one can only paint with faith. Painting teaches us there is faith without certainty.

The possibility of disintegrating and decomposing images (meanings) to create new images - look around!

Painting knows only how to create, not to destroy. The disintegration of images gives rise to new images. This is a state of infinite productivity, an invitation to continuation, not an end. In the face of the law of the image, flowing colour allows destruction to sprout an alternative. We can manage even without names. Appellations (concepts) are not mandatory for life, we can alter them, not only visually but also politically.

The possibility of meaning to be confused signifies a recognition of an intimate encounter   chaos- to find in the loss of meaning liberation. The terror of life is transformed by colorful movement, horror has a home. The possibility for decomposition to become a composition is the very nature of life. Endless recycled matter; from minerals to amino acids, to proteins and cells, tissues and body- circling back again. The extension of the body deep into culture, inscribes this circular movement into its foundations. History- that is, what we are able to tell about ourselves- is only a small part of a much larger circle. We still have much to discover.

The possibility of movement without gravity: painting frees us from the boundaries of righteousness, here lies an opportunity to gaze beyond the conventional, beyond order- to give space to the impossible, not only on the canvas but also within us.

The possibility of perceiving time differently: Painterly time allows the past to become the future, for opposing occurrences to coexist, decomposition is composition.

This is how we live.

Eran Ehrlich, April 2025