Foreword to Musings #1 by David Appelbaum
Published August 2020
For Bruce Zeines, drawing is the sister of story telling. Just as the story pulls, by allure or by will, matter from the vast receptacle of the abyss, allowing us to follow the action from beginning to end, so his creations move to light that human impulse to bring to the surface what is inherently obscure. The enterprise is fraught with ambiguity. It is less like a conclusion or arrival at a destination as the search for a way to get from here to there. Wherever ‘there’ happens to be, for it may exist only in the imaginary. That is in fact the field of Bruce’s exploration, a mysterious intelligence deep within the human psyche. The imaginary is neither perception nor thought (though related to each) and it plays a role in sensitivity, visualization, and memory. It is a third something that is able to by-pass the limits of perceiving (time and space) as well as the restrictions of thinking (analysis and division.) In itself, it is luminous and able to illuminate our human reality with astonishing animation, if only it is heeded.
The simplicity of Bruce’s tales, which often begin without an end-point in mind, demands appreciation. A cartoon-like style (one utilized by the Old Masters also) belies a nuanced subtlety that arrives at a place that could not have been predicted. In this way, the composition inscribes a journey, and a journey requires utmost attentiveness to remain on track. The call to linger, to avoid the rush to the next or to the summary dismissal of the image, is there. Instead, a participation in the abundant figures, their relations, expression, and attitudes, unveils the rich vision of the artist. Humor and seriousness, laughter and anguish, wonder and nonchalance meet there, in contradiction and defiance. It leaves to the eyes of the beholder the task of discovering where in oneself the story rings truth, and what its truth portends for living one’s own life.
