Deep Thoughts

by Steve Henderson

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Price

$4,900

Dimensions

48.000 x 40.000 x 2.000 inches

Title

Deep Thoughts

Artist

Steve Henderson

Medium

Painting - Oil On Canvas

Description

Evening approaches. A lone man and his horse stop at the edge of Palouse Falls, in what used to be land that the Nez Perce, and the Palouse, or Palus, people, safely traveled through, lived in, and loved.

(There is an odd tendency, among warfaring people throughout history, to name landmarks and put up signs that draw from the language of the people they overthrow. It’s almost as if fashioning a memorial in the conquered’s name – or the name we give them -- obfuscates the seizure. The name that the Palus gave the falls was Aput Aput, meaning “falling water.”)

This is a time of transition for this man, because the culture of the dominating U.S. forces has twisted itself into his life: the blanket he wears is a trade from the Hudson Bay Company; he carries rifle instead of bow; the horse is saddled.

There is nothing wrong with his taking advantage of the technology of the day; indeed, it is logical that he do so. But with every advent of technology, there is an exchange. The same rifle that makes hunting easier for him also enables him to be more easily shot. It’s a thought worth pursuing ourselves, in a day in which technology has reached proportions of almost kingship. What toy, what convenience, what thing that we embrace in our lives as useful can also, in wicked hands, be used against us?

Perhaps this is a thought running through his head, unformed, not fully crystallized, because he is in the midst of the change – listening to the many promises made by the conquerors, watching things unfold that are not good. We know this through hindsight, but he is processing what he sees, what he is told versus what his heart speaks.

In this amazing and awe inspiring place, he stops to think Deep Thoughts, to watch the water pour forth in a torrent, crashing to the pool 200 feet below. There is a sense of timelessness, of beauty, of strength. It is a place to reflect upon nature and truth, and where our place is in this world.

So he reflected then. So let us reflect now.

(Aput Aput is now defined as a state park in Washington, USA.)

Featured on 34 Fine Art America groups, including Art Forever with You.

Uploaded

November 19th, 2020

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