The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls and tenement halls and whispered in the sound of silence.
~Paul Simon, Sound of Silence, written in February 1964
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| A Poem in Four Letters, 24x29, oil on canvas over panel |
Thank you stranger, for writing, in 1964, those four letters on the NYC 5th Ave subway station wall. Those letters inspired the penning of Simon’s song and circuitously, 50 years later, my painting, A Poem in Four Letters.
Here’s the inspiration timeline:
-In 1964 a wall writer slashes a four letter word on a subway wall in NYC at the 5th Avenue station.
-Simon and Garfunkel have a photo shoot with the poem in evidence in the background for their ‘Wednesday Morning, 3 am’ (1964) album cover.
-In 1966, Paul Simon’s writes and records, with Art Garfunkel, Poem on the Underground Wall.
-I fall in love with the song sometime in the late 1970’s.
-In 2003 my daughter hears the song for the first time and thinks the four letter word poem is love. That moment sticks with me.
-In 2014, I paint Poem in Four Letters about my model’s alter ego, the song and my daughter’s reaction to it.
A question I enjoy asking people ever since doing my Incognito Project painting series and book about it, is Who is your alter ego?
A friend and favorite model wanted to be portrayed as a graffiti artist. He and I discussed various ideas as to what he should be painting.
I knew that I wanted the message to be something up lifting. After hours spent googling, I realized that there are many visual symbols for hate, but not a singular one that was synonymous with love. That was a sad revelation to me.
