We Cannot Stop What We See by David Edward Lenarz, Jr.
We Cannot Stop What We See
Bic ink pen
Who we are is as simple as what we see; who we are is as complicated as what we see; what we see will kill us, grow us, and transform us. What we see is powerful; what we see has power, but how we choose to see has more power. SEE WITH LOVING EYES.
Meet the artist: David Edward Lenarz, Jr.
David Edward Lenarz, Jr.
Identity Statement
I am the boat that has never seemed to be able to stay afloat; or I should say I was. Was because life has changed. I was taken apart, disassembled by life; I was broken. Identity was a scrambled mess of all the good, bad and horror the world dumped on me; I was the result of trauma and functioned behind masks. Masks fashioned to fit other people's narratives of who they wanted me to be. Sadly, those many masks failed me. Then I failed. I fell but I would not stay down. Someone saw, witnessed and expressed their vision of the me I could not see. Would not see. I decided to trust their perspective. I began to grow; I began to see me. Now, IDENTITY to me is the sum of the whole we choose to embrace. I now embrace God, Christ, The Spirit, Love, Peace, Respect, Trust, Truth, Vulnerability, Courage, Honor, Others, Hope, Self-Worth, and I embrace Faith. Most important, I embrace by all this the Right Man God gave me Purpose to be.
What role does art play in your life?
Art took me on a pilgrimage of self discovery. Each time I engaged the ink pen it moved in truth; it wrote truth; it created truth and it caused walls to crash down. With the walls removed I could no longer hide. Art became a means of exposure. It didn't matter if it was liked or disliked; art became silence and healing; art became Repair and Love. Art is the purest truth of who we are and that's why I pick up the Bic pen every day; so by art I can embrace the me God made me to be. What inspires me to create? I asked a Corrections Officer if he could look up on Google how long a continuous line a Bic pen could make. That distance is 1.2 to 1.3 miles long, and thus my chosen art medium is Bic pens and my inspiration and dream is to create a series of lines that touch the hearts of others; lines that erase lines that separate us; lines that reach the heavens; lines that tell you (the Viewer of this art) you are special, you have value, you are worthy to be loved.