letters
6 http://www.artistsmagazine.com
years I have been studying art his-
tory, on my own and with the great
help of your magazine. I thank you
from the bottom of my heart for the
consolation your magazine gives me.
Rito Herrera, Fort Stockton, TexasI’m in prison and have been for nine
years for nonviolent, drug-related
of ences. h rough painting, God
has given me a means of learning
to understand life in a way that has
enabled me to i nd a sacred quality
in all the vicious darkness that I’ve
fallen through. We cannot only i nd
light in the darkness but also i nd
a light that is of the darkness. h e
darkness gives rise to the light.
All of the subtle variables that
are used to generate a composition
and the ini nite diversity of ele-
ments—from the most obscure and
seemingly noxious to the most sub-
lime—miraculously converge then
explode in the amazing manifesta-
tions called art. In that world is an
harmonious discord: a place where
my soul and spirit soar freely above
the madness and hypocrisy of a
superi cial, meager world of virulent
decadence to a realm of calm and
substance.
Michael C. La Martina, Greenville, Va.Moody Mise-en-Scène
h anks to everyone at h e Artist’s
Magazine who contributed to Moody
Mise-en-Scène, (December 2015).
Brian Roeth’s design gave my col-
lages a i lmlike presence in accord
with my intent. And I may as well
tell the writer, Jim Cummins, who
is such a fan of a certain American
philosopher, that the name of the
school I taught at from 1971 to 1992
in West Los Angeles was Ralph
Waldo Emerson Junior High. How’s
that for serendipity? ■
John Selleck, Beverly Hills, Calif.