THREE PHILOSOPHERS IN FANCY HATS (FISHING FOR ANSWERS)

Oil on canvas, 40 x 30 inches, 2010

(Artist's collection, Maitland, Florida)

The initial idea for the painting was quite simple: to depict three wise men in fancy hats, smoking their churchwarden pipes. However, after a visit from my philosopher friend, the concept changed. It was decided that the three men will represent the three famous personalities: Jacques Derrida, Francois Lacan, and Slavoj Zhizhek. Derrida is, of course, known for his work on deconstruction -- therefore, in the painting, he is wearing a hat he deconstructed himself and applied a rough patch to it. His companion, Lacan, is on the left, holding a pipe which resembles his face, since he is famous for his statement that a child recogizes itself in a mirror at eighteen months. In the center, Slavoj Zhizhek, the enfant-terrible of modern philosophy and culturology, is shown smoking a meershaum pipe. After the three pilosophers were identified, the background was developed to allude to courses in philosophy (the sails of the ships) and to Western and Orthodox Christianity. Various boats in the background sort of hint at the alternate title of the painting: "Fishng for answers." The greatest challenge (the most time-consuming part of the painting) were the clothes of the three philosophers and their fancy hats (see the last two photo details).

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