Brian McCormack “Burning Man” pastel on pastel paper, framed size 23 ”W x 35 ”H, 2020, $300.00

A man frightened and alone, estranged from his family struggling with inner demons posts incoherent Facebook messages and then douses himself with an accelerant and lights himself ablaze in a D.C. park near the Whitehouse. Whatever his intention was, he became a short lived news item only a scroll away from the latest insanity from the recent past occupant of the address he was walking towards while aflame. For me it brought back recollection of Buddhist monks setting themselves on fire during the Vietnam war era as sacrifice and protest of an insane war.