Buying Joybringer

This was a hand-carved, hand-printed, fully original piece of art created by me. It's printed using oil-based ink on stonehenge archival paper.

For collectors: This piece is part of a series called "to the beat of the distant drums". They are easily recognized by how different they are from the rest of my work. They usually have dead-centered individuals wearing primal garments, breaking into a dance.

Dog not for sale :)

This piece specifically is about happiness. Happiness is a most deceiving concept. We go along in life believing that we should pursue happiness at all costs, and that we should make it our ultimate buying goal. This presents a very difficult to describe state of mind that basically leads to disappointment and misery.

As we all know, life is complicated. If I had to describe it in one way, I would say life is a long series of hardships with some enjoyable moments sprinkled in here and there that make everything worth it. However these moments are few and far in between and we must not mistake them for an ultimate life goal.

We are seeing today in the west and well-developed countries how this fallacy and necessity of pursuing an easy, happy life, have led to complacency and weakness. People truly believe that if they are suffering, they have a right to be happy, and will not understand it when life doesn't go their way. They blame governments and their peers because they can't comprehend that what they were told, that is, life is what you make it, and always try to be happy, is just not happening.

They are not prepared (unwilling) to understand that life was never supposed to be easy or happy. That we were never supposed to be comfortable, and attain such luxuries, and even worse, keep it for the rest of our lives. There are hardships after you get that promotion, after you get married, after you have a child, after you hit the lottery, etc. These hardships don't stop until you die (death being the ultimate one). A happy life is not a goal, is not an attainable "end". Believing this is not a good state of mind.A person who is ashamed of being unhappy, or a person who desperately forces themselves to be happy, will not allow themselves to feel tragedy deeply; therefore, this person will never be able to truly understand the most complex concepts life has to offer, like loss, hurt, pain, disappointment, etc. Thus the life they lead becomes shallow and meaningless, which instead will lead to depression and a feeling of worthlessness.

To put this into perspective: You need to be willing to be hurt in order to understand how not to hurt. If you force yourself to be always happy and painless, you can't possibly expect to be a good parent, or a good friend, or a good spouse, because you have no idea what it is to treat these important loved ones properly if you can't comprehend them. You will never understand the worth of others or your own, and you will never understand what is justice, and what is fair.