Jeffrey Hartman

Lives and works in North Bergen, NJ, USA

Artist statement

2022 - WORDS PHRASES Words and phrases have occasionally appeared in my paintings as early as the 1960's. Now they have taken over. I hope they "speak for themselves." 2016 - 2021 OT SERIES The OT (Occupational Therapy) series of paintings was based on the ideas of Ernest Becker (The Denial of Death – 1973) as expanded by Sheldon Solomon, et. al. (The Worm at the Core, The Role of Death in Life - 2015). The thesis is that because we are know we're going to die, we have strategies to deal with the anxiety that this creates, which would otherwise “cripple” us psychologically. These strategies include religion, which promises us that our deaths will not be the end of our consciousness; Art ("Ars Longa/Vita Brevis"); Various socially valued enterprises such as leadership, charity, and other things which bring us the admiration of other people; And having children, all of which imply a form of immortality. Another strategy is trying to bury the anxiety by getting lost in trivialities, like shopping, following sports, etc., or by drugs or alcohol. Each painting is a metaphor for Becker's idea. The anxiety-provoking thoughts are words or phrases painted on the background and mostly hidden by the distracting symbols or shiny objects in the foreground, which are glued on top. Unfortunately, we’re all gonna die, which creates problems. We all need some type of occupational therapy.

Artwork