The Elements

The artist, John Marin, whose work has remained a centering force for my imagination, once wrote,

Seems to me the true artist must perforce go from time to time to the elemental big forms—Sky, Sea, Mountain, Plain—and those things pertaining thereto, to sort of re-true himself up, to recharge the battery. For these big forms have everything. But to express these, you have to love these, to be a part of these in sympathy…

Like Marin, I have chosen to address these ‘elemental big forms’ not only ‘from time to time’ but always. And not simply because I need constant ‘recharging’ (I do) but because I think we all do. I want people to see the natural world not as a backdrop to their lives, but as the very heart of their lives. The beauty of these forms is not just to delight us (though it does), but also to give us life. Beauty is not simply an ornament, a surface phenomenon, but the essence and power of being. And, if beauty is accompanied at all times, as many great thinkers both ancient and modern have asserted, by goodness and truth, then we ignore it to our peril.

—Patrick Adams