Thrift Shop Art Legacy
While perusing a local thrift shop, I ran across a wildly cool little painting.
I had to buy it just because it was so cool and definitely out of place in the thrift shop. It also reminded me somewhat of my own art with mixed media, glitter paint, and paint texture.
It’s inspiring to look at and makes me want to dive back into my own art. However, my mind has taken a different twist on this piece of art.
The word legacy comes to mind.
Why did this piece of art end up in a thrift store, or more importantly, how?
According to the back of this canvas, handwritten is the name of the piece, “The Sacred Heart of St. Jayne”, created in 1998.
Twenty-two years have passed… but did the artist?
Or did the recipient of this piece of art decide in a pitch and ditch moment that it was no longer wanted in their home? Is that why this piece of art ended up at a local thrift shop for $2.99?
This thought cyclone I’ve entered makes me think about all the art I’ve created, sold, and/or given to loved ones.
When I die, what will become of my art that adorns my walls and sits in wait of being seen by others?
Will my family and friends simply toss it out with the trash or send it to the Salvation Army or Goodwill?
Do they even care about the time and emotion I put into my art?
It’s a somewhat morbid and depressing thought, I know.
And I slip even further down the art legacy rabbit hole.
In the past, I’ve given people scrapbooks, pieces of artwork, or even poetry and prose I’ve written. So now the burning question in the back of my head is, do they even look back on these personal gifts and me with sentimentality or will they simply toss it in the trash?
I’m a cynical realist. I know the scrapbooks I made people in the past were tossed in the trash, after removing their own photos from them.
Artwork and words are immortal, but only if someone cares enough to make them so. No, I’m looking to become the next Van Gogh or Emily Dickinson, I’m not delusional and I know my stuff isn’t the stuff that will go on for ages after my eventual demise.
But it makes me question if I should even bother creating anything if it is not going to live on.
And so I sit here and wonder…
What will be my footprint or legacy left behind?
When you create art, poetry, stories, music or express yourself in some other medium, you are sharing your vision and feelings with the rest of the world. That expression is magical and releases something within. Does it really matter in the long run if someone else appreciates it as much as you did when creating it? If you don’t create and share something stagnates within and the creativity starts to stagnate. Artistic expressions are very much like political expressions because while you may not appreciate the art the same way or have the same political beliefs it does not mean that you don’t love and appreciate the creator or believer. Keep creating!