The Art of Life is a large open-air traveling exhibit created by the non-profit organization Justice For All. Its first public exhibition took place on April 18, 2016 at Colorado State University. Consisting of nine six-by-twelve-foot panels arranged in a triangle, The Art of Life allows great works of art to be seen in greater detail than is possible in some museum environments. (For example, the Mona Lisa is behind bulletproof glass at the Louvre.)
The exhibit presents each work of art to the public to be appreciated for its own sake, but it also makes comment on the subject of each work, making a connection to the hotly-debated topic of abortion. With The Art of Life, we at Justice For All continue in our passion of creating a different kind of conversation about abortion, one that engages both the heart and the mind. Our perspective is unambiguously stated at the bottom of each panel, that “the art of life is…better than abortion.” What’s your perspective?
This page provides documentation for each of the panels, including links to source material, more information, and commentary. The panels of The Art of Life were designed to be placed in a triangle with three panels per side, but the order and sequence of the panels may vary from campus to campus.
Here's a brief introduction to The Art of Life through just a few pictures (Spring 2016 Events at CSU and UCLA):
You can find more detailed information about each panel in The Art of Life through the following links:
EMBRACING CHILD AND CAREER
Note, this panel features a self-portrait (with daughter) of one of the chief portrait painters of Marie Antoinette. So, the painting itself is a real-life example of embracing both child and career.
Vogue article on recent Vigée-Le Brun exhibition (includes information about the painter)
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Suffering
Image: Sorrowing Old Man (At Eternity’s Gate) by Vincent Van Gogh, 1890 *
Note this passage from a letter which gives some indication of what Van Gogh was intending with this painting:
"I hope to do it better in time. I myself am very far from satisfied with this but, well, getting better must come through doing it and through trying. It seems to me that a painter has a duty to try to put an idea into his work. I was trying to say this in this print — but I can’t say it as beautifully, as strikingly as reality, of which this is only a dim reflection seen in a dark mirror — that it seems to me that one of the strongest pieces of evidence for the existence of 'something on high' in which Millet believed, namely in the existence of a God and an eternity, is the unutterably moving quality that there can be in the expression of an old man like that, without his being aware of it perhaps, as he sits so quietly in the corner of his hearth. At the same time something precious, something noble, that can’t be meant for the worms." (Source: The entire letter from which this passage comes is found on this excellent site devoted to Van Gogh's letters.)
UNCERTAIN FUTURE
Smiling...and not smiling
Colorado State University, April 2016
UCLA, May 2016
The Center of Attention
Commitment
Works of Art
Image: The Pinch of Poverty, Thomas B. Kennington, Britain, 1889 **
The Pinch of Poverty by Thomas Wright (Is this the origin of the title of the painting?)
Mother and Child
National Gallery of Art: The Small Cowper Madonna (see also this page in "The Collection")
Humble Circumstances
CK Wisner interacts with a UCLA student in front of the "Humble Circumstances" panel in May 2016.
MORE ART
Image: Embryo by Maurice T. Wagner, 2013 (used by permission)
Notes about Copyright on All Images Referenced Above
Paintings and photographs marked with an asterisk (*) are in the public domain in their countries of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 100 years or less. Paintings and photographs marked with two asterisks (**) are in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 95 years or less. Paintings and photographs marked with three asterisks (***) are used courtesy of the fabulous Getty Open Content Program.
Justice For All's position is that faithful reproductions of two-dimensional works of art that are in the public domain cannot be copyrighted.
Recent "Art of Life" Dialogue Events
Art of Life Exhibit at Colorado State University, April 2016
Art of Life Exhibit at UCLA, May 2016
