A theme in many peoples’ lives (mine being no exception) is watching “leaders” and people with varying forms of power and authority willfully play dumb when harm is done.

Their response—or lack thereof—is not something we can change.

However, our respect is something we can relocate. They don’t care to hold the kind of line that continued respect demands, do they?

There is a difference between a leader and someone placed in a leadership position. As painful as it is, allowing ourselves to metabolize our disappointment in them is a power move.

Their roles are just built on catchy marketing for bad products that nobody benefits from buying. Textbook definition of predation: selling something that isn’t what it seems to feed on those taking things in good faith. Is that what leaders do?

We don’t have to keep acting in a poorly-cast play.

We can just be ourselves and stand for what we stand for.

When someone fails to be the kind of boss that makes good things happen, there is no reason to listen to them anymore when they tell you what’s real. They have disqualified themselves. Whoops.

Below is one of the pieces that drew the most attention in my recent show … and I fielded a lot of timid versions of this question:

What were you thinking about when you made this piece?

The title of this post is a good summary.

This is VENGEANCE, created gradually over the course of many years.

24″ x 36″ acrylic on canvas.

Whatever happens, I’m not interested in letting apathy in the face of injustice rub off on me. That’s not a “normal” I accept.

You don’t have to either.

Peace,

Adrien