“DISCERNMENT: War of the Worlds” acrylic on board, 23”H x 39”W ©2018-21, $4500.00
“DISCERNMENT,” addresses the question of what we are to believe and our ability to distinguish truth from deception. We consider where reality and fiction begin, end, or continue off the page—from what appears black & white, through shadows, to enlightenment. Turning the page—a concrete picture of Trenton’s peaceful skyline at sundown heralds a glowing future of potential.
Orson Welles’ WAR OF THE WORLDS cited Grover Mills in Mercer County as the place of Martians landing. The radio broadcast on October 31, 1938, posed a double deception—that aliens had landed and that people had believed it. Failing newspapers played up the fictional terror to boost the credibility of print versus the dangers of the ‘new’ media, radio. We reckon with the power of the media today. Do we believe what we hear, from whom, and how do we discern manipulation?