Dogfight: Fighting With Myself

I have an admiration for the aggressiveness of predatory animals. On films I like to watch them hunt. I have the same appreciation for the nature of some dogs, such as boxers and other sorts of bulldogs. I don’t think that I could watch a dogfight, as I’m sure it would upset me. I don’t like the idea of pitting animals against each other for sport, but the behavior of fighting between them, although aggravated, would not occur if it weren’t, to some degree, natural.

Be that as it may, I had a desire to paint a dogfight. Again, it was my appreciation of their aggressive natures moreso than any endorsement of the sport. But my interest in this came under the influence of the state of mind that I was increasingly in at that time. I was not happy, then, with my situation, and fought with myself often about what to do or how to change my position. When this state met with the idea of the dogfight the picture became one of a dog stupidly attacking his own reflection. One might imagine that for as long as the dog could see his reflection he would be at war with it, until he had beat himself apart. I viewed my personal fight with my own self as being about as stubborn and self-perpetuating.

 

Return to "Dogfight: Fighting with Myself."

 

(Paintings that feature revealing mirrored reflections are "Conversion," "Narcissist," "Her Ghost," "Hugging a Vampire," "Villana," and "Dog Fight.")