"A City to Live" by Jed Dorsey

Throughout the month of September, Indianapolis immigrant Jed Dorsey has constructed an adventure with nothing but his brushes, some paint, and a few canvases. Now, as fall has briskly arrived, and summer has all but bid us farewell, it’s time to reminisce a bit on what once was and what is now.

Time is the most dynamic of phenomena. It changes everything as it continually moves, passing by us without warning no matter how much was beg it to slow down. You see, the earth is spinning at a speed of over 1,000 miles per hour as it hurdles through the Milky Way at 67,000 miles per hour in orbit around the sun. Our speed and trajectory give us measurements, and our change gives us the motivation to keep track. What a ride…

While the speed of our annual solar circumnavigation seems reckless, its effects subtly surround us each year. Time welcomes the seasons and slowly our landscape changes. The very face of our world becomes both unfamiliar and familiar all at once. Each year a new story emerges, and reminders of past adventures, past joys and past sadness, attach themselves to the world around us. According to Dorsey, this is what place is all about.

“Places and stories go together. Every image I paint is of a place, and every place has a story. Usually it has more than one,” he explained, “That is why every painting can mean something different to each person.”

Our context shapes us and as we live within it, we shape it as well. You see the Indianapolis skyline in the fall as the sun is setting. The image takes you back to a sweet moment from years ago. The feeling lingers; it attaches itself to this brief moment, and this image of the setting sun behind the skyline stirs you. This place is your place. This city is where you have lived, however briefly, and will continue to live in this present moment.

Dorsey continued, “If you have been to a place, you have a story about it. [It reminds you] what you were doing, who you were with… For me, there is a memory attached to each of my paintings, because they all tell a story.”

Dorsey’s show in the City Gallery captures our stories of this great spinning sphere we call our home. Come by and take a look on Friday, October 3, and see where his work will take you.