Art, Nature & Soul #102

Why PRIDE, why parades?

* June being PRIDE month I tend to immerse myself in LGBTQAI+ events, music, film & literature, to celebrate and reaffirm who we are and our place in the world. Its become a way to travel through time & space for me, mine and the history of being. It’s about having a voice.

Many of the stories have sad endings especially before the year 2000. The struggle to fit into a world community that rejects the most basic nature of being, is real. We had went to a major art exhibition here in Chicago at Wrightwood 659, perhaps the largest of its type in the history of the world. I saw a portrait of James Baldwin there and it spurred me to seek and read his most famous "Giovanni's Room". Written in 1956, its more about, fear & self loathing, the closet and it resonates with the words of Harvey Milk'

, “If a bullet should enter my brain, let that bullet destroy every closet door.”

Harvey Milk was an American politician and the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California. Both he and San Francisco Mayor Moscone were assassinated by Board of Supervisors, right wing extremist, Dan White, 1978.

May 30,2025 “Yesterday, one of my FB friends posted an ally PRIDE month show of support on her profile. Another, felt inclined to chime in on his feelings about PRIDE parades. I responded with this post. She later contacted me saying she had been moved to tears by it and asked if she could post it by itself. I of course said yes. Here it is and a Happy PRIDE to all my LGBTQIA+ friends, family and especially to our allies.”

I replied~ “I've always found it's better to ask questions than to make sweeping statements about things I do not understand. My husband and I have been together for 39 years this month. We went to PRIDE events early on, but ended up living in the burbs, with few LGBTQ connections for 20-25 years in between. In the past 8 years I've questioned our decision to just blend in with society at large, especially when so many young are still committing suicide, being kicked out of their homes by their parents and being murdered on the streets. Over the past decade we've been more engaged and going to the PRIDE parades and events, especially with what's going on here in the USA. This year we'll be marching in one of the local parades with our church group, most of whom are not LGBTQ, but allies who understand the importance of community and its support. So long story short, the parade isn't really for you or about you, but maybe an opportunity to learn something about other peoples struggles.”

It seems every pride month I feel compelled to paint some affirmation of who I am as a gay man in America. Earlier this year an FB friend asked, “if you could relive a moment of your life, which would it be?” While I’m unable to find my actual response , it was along these lines. The summer of 1989, Don and I were living with my parents, mom was ill, and we had moved back to help out. It was a blustering hot humid summer day. Don & I were napping in the middle of the afternoon. Somewhere between the state of being awake and sleep, I could hear this piece on the radio softly playing. It turned out to be Phillip Glass’s “Opening & Closing”. Never in my life had I ever felt so alive and connected to the universe. I wanted to just stay in that moment forever, as we, everything. were one.

Transcending time & space in a moment, nothing was separate, everything was one. Its difficult to put into words, but I had never felt so much peace, some much love, some much light. It was surreal and yet definitive and complete. This piece, ‘Opening & Closing’, now over 35 years later, is inspired by the memory of that life changing event, when I realized, I was forever.

“Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one’s definition of your life; define yourself.” — Harvey Fierstein speak truth to power

These are my primary Humanitarian ways to get involved in progressive change, ACLU, Human Rights Campaign, Trevor Project & Matthew Shepard Foundation, besides the UUSG.

‘Opening & Closing’ 30”x30” oil /2025 PRIDE

Art, Nature & Soul #76

PRIDE~ Creating figurative art, is one of my favorite subjects to explore. When I was in my teens & 20s, besides the occasional commissioned portrait work, they tended toward the more surreal as I figured out who & what it wanted to be as I grew up. Today I still play in that arena fusing figures with symbol & mythology from yester year, as well as the now & ones I’ve created. As I’ve recently written,

"I paint my life, as I experience it. I’m not merely an abstract painter or a land, sea or cityscape one or even a figurative one for that matter. The internal as well as the external mechanisms engage and compel me to paint my life, how I think, feel it, how I experience it and how I live it…my paintings are a diary, a catalogue and a chronology of happenings." ~Richard

Which is to say, my art is my therapy of sorts where I express my deepest & most intimate details of my life.

Early on it was apparent in hindsight that I was figuring out my sexuality, then screaming here “I AM”. While I’ve toned down the more, in your face, aspects of these type artworks. I still promote a untied world view where everyone’s equal, accepted & loved.

My husband Don & I have spent most of our lives, 37 years together, blending in with the community population in the burbs. We made this choice decades ago for a variety of reasons. Importantly, in living in the regular population rather than a more city LGBTQ colony. I thought it was an opportunity to show & share who we are as human beings to persons less familiar with same sex relationships. Our outness has varied over nearly 4 decades but we have never denied who we are. Growing up, my family & I lived next door to a lesbian couple, that became family friends over the many years. It seemed to me the best way to get people to get over there fear of things they didn’t understand was to show them that we, in many, if not most ways, live a similar life as you. Although some of our individual struggles may be different, LOVE IS LOVE. Currently, we’re wanting to do more for & be a support of the LGBTQ community as the climate of hate has been escalated here in the USA.

Each of these, plus innumerable others artworks are meant to show, whether , more realistic, abstract, contemporary, modern or impressionistic, my love of people & the various human conditions & the ambiguous nature of being.

As always your questions & comments are encouraged & welcome, Richard