I took an art class in acrylic painting a few years ago, so I was very happy to meet up with the art teacher at her exhibition recently. Vian Shamounki Borchert was exhibiting at the Kentlands Mansion in Gaithersburg, MD.
During the exhibition, one of her paintings caught my eye: “The story remains untold” and so I asked her about it.
Vian told me it was done in the expressionist style because it’s an attempt to catch the psychological mood of the situation and of the model. Through conversation the model had earlier shared a little about her personal life. Then Vian as an artist captured in bold strokes, the flow of the model’s personality.
The successes or failures we all go through as we traverse this social landscape are part of life. It would be interesting if the model became the artist and revealed what she wanted to show the world.
There are images etched in our minds as we meet people in our daily lives. Depending on how we think, they are like snap shots for some and paintings for others. In life’s daily run, the subjects are often only useful for that moment. Important yes, and we are not trying to lessen their input in our life, nor belittle them as individuals. But more often than not their story remains untold until the next time we meet.
Let me suggest perhaps next time, that you find out how that person’s family is doing. Then with the eye of a master photographer or a gifted painter, catch the depth of the answer that is given. Is he or she happy, sad, fulfilled or still yearning a dream unrealised.
Your next move can be an important one: a soft answer can help heal someone’s soul.
WOMAN IS KEY® 
One reply on “The story remains untold”
Awesome painting!