The truth can now be told--I really am not one of the Gorilla Girls! I'm reluctant to designate myself as a "guerrilla" because to me that term has such an awful connotation, and I mean that in the original sense of the word of "filling one with awe." But I happen to have collected quite a bit of Guerrilla Painter equipment and accessories for my next plein air workshop coming up tomorrow, and I'm looking forward to having more compact, portable gear. Less time to set up, more time to paint.I often think about why the figure of the unwashed, violent guerrilla has been so romanticized here in America... starting with Herbert Matthews as Fidel Castro's first groupie on through to Che Guevara's murderous, beretted mug for sale on T-shirts, Americans have just loved the image of these idiots, if not the men themselves. I can understand a certain appeal for the young, their rebellious adolescence finds in these men the ultimate anti-authority figure, while forgetting that they end up becoming worse dictators that the ones they replaced. The older unrepentant leftists should know better, but they will never admit it.
In any case, I'd never want to self-identify as a guerrilla, it's better to be a gorilla painter. What next? Whale painter? Tomorrow I'm off to Tilghman Island.
2 comments:
My my you're the prolific painter. Always something new on this site. I am particularly interested in the portrait of mother and son. Nicely done, amiga. Una rigaldo para la raza.
Hi Elena, Thanks for the post and the link. When Carl chose the name Guerrilla Painter, he was just thinking of someone who can travel light, move quickly and not attract much notice. Here's what he wrote for the FAQ page on www.guerrillapainter.com - "The Spanish word guerrilla, meaning "little warrior" was coined in the Peninsular war (1804-14) to describe the resistance by Spanish partisans to Napoleon's invasion. Thereafter it was used to describe actions in many conflicts including the Civil, Franco-Prussian, Boer and both World Wars. It was only after World War II that it took on the revolutionary connotation familiar today. If you run a quick web search it becomes obvious that the "historic significance" is disappearing: There is "Guerrilla" -marketing, -football, -films, -genealogy, -art, -music, -poetry, -theater, -design, -sign-making, -business, -gardening, -software, -journalism, -selling, -teachers, -chocolate, etc.
However we acknowledge that we may be keeping low company with many other linguistic guerrilla miscreants.
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