Or Not...


I seriously didn't plan this!

I swear, I'd never seen this picture before I stumbled across it today. But when I did, I thought: AHA! a pictorial retort to my verbal question and Magritte's suggestion... which also simultaneously proves Schutz's point that we indeed live in a 'taken for granted reality,' where creations like this bemuse us simply because they challenge what we know to be true.

The piece is a painted photograph by Teun Hocks. While it has no title, Hocks explains that the man here was just so intent on understanding the painting, so deeply curious, he literally entered into it. I know I've done that to paintings...a couple of Pollocks, a Picasso, a James C. Christensen or two... generally pieces that are either super-abstract or dreamily surreal. Then there's the paintings/creations of my own - I know I climb into those with regularity.

More of Mr. Hocks' pieces can be found in what looks to be a really fantastic exhibition called A Mind at Play at the Art Institute of Chicago till the first week of September. So if you're in the area...


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