Insurgents Following Their Leader
48″ x 36″ oil/canvas
A painting about belonging’s dark side: The raw excitement of group dynamics. Following a leader, a cause, a team, a gang, brings a shared identity, fellowship, purpose. Lost and gone is the lonely pursuit of who we were born to become, which is the real Hero’s journey. We are so easily gathered up in the call to belong, that we forget the consequences. I was led to imagine this painting after reading Eric Hoffer’s book: The True Believer. I deliberately painted these men as having lost their discernment. We are all vulnerable to this dystopia.