Opus 4 by Randy J. Terry

Artist's Statement
I've always felt that it is easy to know the superficial right thing to do. In our innocence - that is what we naturally believe. But as a human being: the difficult decision is - how much of the "bad" must we do to survive? How do we temper that innocence? That is the difficult decision. In other words, how must we behave as humans in order to survive and still obtain the approval of whomever we seek approval from? Throughout our lives: how we handle these situations will determine if we become stronger and pave our path with wisdom - or if we become weaker and litter our path with crumbling debris. And that is the decision that you have been getting advice about since you were born and will continue to get advice about until you die.

Life is full of “devils in the details” that we run across everyday. But, now and then we run into something that shakes the whole foundation of our moral beliefs. And these episodes can be called a “loss of innocence.” Depending on how you were raised and where you went to school: there are actually a number of "loss of innocence" episodes in your life. And just the fact that you are cynical: that doesn’t represent a loss of innocence. Every time that you thought that you’ve seen it all – something will take you by surprise and you’ll just go, “this is a new distance downward of humanity, a new depth that I haven’t witnessed, before.” This work represents one of those episodes.

The original premise was of a young adult, who has just moved out on her own in the city.

There is the church in the background, representing the moral values that she was taught in her youth. The green that is floating in the air is all the confusing and tempting things that surround her.

The roses on the floor represent the wisdom that has been shared with her in her youth. The wisdom may be from Mom, Dad, Mom & Dad's friends, aunts, uncles, and teachers or from role models. Valuable lessons she learned from observing and being around the people she loved and respected.

There are little anchors in the background. These are incorrect things that she was taught that will weigh her down. These are not just things in her conscious mind, but, also, subconscious beliefs that are weighing her down. These represent negative, self-defeating beliefs that are imbedded in her subconscious and working against her as much as anything in the outside world.

The weights in the background represent the things that will make her strong. Things like discovering the right books and accurate information sources. Things that will free her from those anchors that hold her down. The weights represent the sources of knowledge and strength that will free her from those self-defeating subconscious beliefs.

In the upper left corner is the building with the billboard on it. It represents her new job. It fills her life. It takes-up so much of her time that she can hardly believe it. She is doing things that she never thought that she would do and she is so busy that she doesn't have much time to think about things. And her ethics: we all remember how our ideals and ethics were affected by our first major employment. Maybe you were a police officer and found out that you couldn’t enforce the law the way you felt it should be. Maybe you were a nurse and found out that you couldn’t care for your patients the way you felt you should. Maybe you went into religion and thought that God should give you more help. Perhaps you were an administrator and you saw all the abuse that goes on. Maybe you were a social worker and you saw how humanity abused each other. Or maybe you were a pit boss at a casino and you knew that everyone in the building hated you.

The Blue Light in the background is the Source of all Life. It's always with her.

The ropes symbolize those values, onto which, she chooses to hold. From those values which she chooses to hold: she will derive her strength. And that strength will move the direction of her life.

~ Randy J. Terry ©

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©2000 Randy J. Terry - visual artist