Everything in nature is authentic without our saying so

Drawings by David Sapp, Mansfield, Art Centre

It seems to me that 'authentic' is a presumptuous claim

for any of us humans to make about anything that we 'do'.

It is true to say that artists are 'touching the surface'.

It is what artists do. They choose a medium, paint, graphite, clay, glass, metal,

and they manipulate it, usually with their hands, in order to discover something.

Perhaps they do not know what they are looking for and maybe

they do not find out but it is a worthy pursuit to inquire into

the honest motive and completed gesture of the work.

Touching the surface is a courageous act, making a visible mark which can be witnessed and judged, seen and experienced by others

but mostly in the hope that it can penetrate to something deeper.