So. Jealous.

Are we down for the same cause?
We don’t know what we stand for
When the moments start to crack
You do loose track where your head’s at

- John Frusciante

"Dirty Mind (Red) Graphite Pencil and Oil Paint on Paper 30" x 22"

"Dirty Mind (Red) Graphite Pencil and Oil Paint on Paper 30" x 22"

It is often said that there is nothing new under the sun and most of what we do has already been done. Revolutions come and go, new waves of thinking replace established ideologies only to be replaced inevitably by something else. We form oppositions, a resistance, an under ground. We are bohemians, literati, intelligentsia. One question still has yet to be answered throughout this time honored exercise: Who are we really? Collectively and as individuals?

It is very easy to be against something, we do it all the time. We used to call them sit ins, now we occupy. Once there were hippies, now we have hipsters. Once there was free love, now there is … well… gross.

It seems to be in our DNA to be rebellious and in opposition to power; after all it is the very principle this country was founded on. We have culminated this mind frame inside our borders, perfecting it. Once ready and past the dress rehearsal we broadcast it into the world like a beacon. Our narrative is full of sweeping changes brought on by a spark that ignited a raging fire. History repeats itself.

We live in a time where we no longer have faith in many of our established leaders. We had a credit crisis, Lance Armstrong was stripped of his titles and Bernie made off with the money.

Who are we as Americans right now?

We are adolescents.

We are precocious, too smart for our own good and constantly fighting with our parents. We know everything better but the idea of being out on our own scares us to death. We know who we don’t want to be. We are figuring out who we will be.

We take the utmost care to express ourselves. We adopt new slang, dress in style no matter how ephemeral or capricious it is, and choose music to speak for us. We can be insecure and crave affirmation only to pretend we don’t really need it by adopting a reticent air of superiority. One thing is for certain, we can never be alone. It seems we need a strength in numbers to forge ahead. We are incredulous, insatiable and never satisfied. It seems we are restless and a generation born with wanderlust.

This is the first of a series: the Red, the White and the Blue.

Red for the tremors inside all of us we can not quell.