Is It Necessary?

“Duty is what no-one else will do at the moment.”

-Penelope Fitzgerald, Offshore

What are some things you consider it – or have considered it in the past – your duty to do? Are there parts of life that others around you perhaps avoid where you step forward willingly? And do you agree with Penelope Fitzgerald’s definition of duty at all? Is it, as she states, those things that no one else will do at the moment? Or do we all have duties in our lives that are perhaps things that others can and will do as well? There is a lot of interpretation to this word, this idea of duty.

Jessica Helfand joined us to talk about her show, Character Studies, which runs until June 1 at Jim Kempner Fine Art. A writer and painter who is very interested in the veracity of characters. For these works, Helfand took facial descriptions in fiction and ran them through AI with her sketch of the character in order to embed the authors’ voice into each painting. To learn more, listen to the complete interview.

Greg Chann chatted with us about Synaptic Structures, his recent show which ran through April 5 at Kathryn Markel Fine Arts. This series of work originated at the beginning of the pandemic as Chann realized in no uncertain terms that the world is connected. This led to the idea of synapses, the connections within the brain, a fitting title for work involving connected, moving parts. To hear more about this show and the effect of the pandemic on Chann’s work, listen to the complete interview.