Long Bummer Days

We are all familiar with Travis K. Schwab’s Long Bummer Days’ subject’s expression. We’ve seen that look many times and, I suspect all of us have given it to people in our lives. She is looking straight at us but not seeing us. Her eyes, directed at our own, are focused on the internal world and the immediate external one. Nose red from tears, she seems melancholic, preoccupied, and with the calm, resigned air of one who has accepted their fate. There is no sadder sight than someone who has given up, and I'm certainly not going to put that fate on our poor protagonist. However, how swiftly all these speculations came to mind tells us something about the painting, great art, and ourselves. How could I project so much onto the relatively impassive face of someone I have never known? Because that's what great art does: it reveals things about ourselves and others. It allows us to see ourselves from another perspective and experience some small part of how another sees.