Douglass Truth's Online Gallery

Our culture seems to have some "issues" when it comes to death and dying. I see it as a part of life, and the doorway to the next stage. I came very close to dying from a bacterial brain infection in 1998, and it gave me a different perspective on both death and life. Can't have one without the other! And as morbid as thinking about and considering death seems to be to some people, my experience is that getting a little closer to death—even thinking about our own demise—can be a healthy and constructive meditation.

Rudolf Steiner, the German mystic, says that the dead are always with us, and we can work together with them for our mutual benefit. Maybe so!

This new series of paintings isn't particularly structured - it's just a lot of my recent paintings that seem to have something or other to do with death, or some kind of afterworld or underworld and overworld. It's a complicated world, and one gets the sense that the many traditions—beginning with shamanism in the pre-agricultural days—are wandering around in the dark, trying to make a map or set of instructions for that strange realm. And so am I.

I do know that my "friendship" with death has made me a happier, healthier, and more productive person. If you're interested in more along these lines, check out my play and forthcoming book Death As A Salesman.