We are all born into an expansive, expensive anxiety-filled environment. Most of us don’t realize what our parents have gotten us into until we enter puberty. The overwhelming nature of humans has only been exacerbated by technology. Do you ever wonder what it was like to just live?

 I mean, people spend so much time looking at themselves in mirrors without actually looking within themselves at all. People stare at and scroll up and down screens, without actually learning much about anyone or anything else. And, you know, it’s long been trendy to criticize such behavior, particularly on social media, without doing much to actually influence change.

 The thing is: Every home is its own world. Each body is its own world. How micro do you want to get? How macro can you get?

 I like to think we all want and can expand and expend on and at surprising levels. I choose to believe we can become less solipsistic with time and effort, over time and with reflection.

 And that’s the thing about art — it offers (and provides) a type of self-reflection that no mirror ever approaches. And, of course, art can be made with and shared on a screen, but the best art gets made through and/or as a result of tough, complicated, and fruitful experiences. What is life if it is not those things, and what is art if it doesn’t come from those things?

 There are worlds within worlds within worlds within worlds…

 -Keith J. Varadi, July 2024