A Young Boy Gazes at the Ocean

As with most art objects, if there is a title or description associated with it, one’s mind and emotions usually begin the process of understanding the piece with that.  The title here is “A Young Boy Gazes at the Ocean” and obviously, from the photo this is certainly an appropriate title, for this is exactly what is before us.  Yet is it?

There is a young boy in the photo, but his age is not stated, for apparently, there is no need for that detail, nor for where the beach is located, or for the day and month or year the photo was taken.  For when a photo such as this is offered as an art piece, it is lifted beyond the realm of the immediate, and freed from the reality of the now.  But…is that entirely true here, and was that the intent of the artist?

The boy here is maybe three or four, and he appears well nourished and cared for.  His upper body and head are placed center, so then, is he definitely, or only perhaps, the subject of the art piece?  And if he is a subject of the photo, then is he the entire subject of this art piece? 

The rush and turmoil of the water approaching him, and the roll and imminent crash of the mounting greener waves, accentuates the stillness and gaze of the boy, which both draws our attention to the boy, and then away from him, as we follow his gaze.  For he is without movement, and his head is turned and his face and any shadow of emotions upon it, is not fully seen.

However, perhaps the warm lightness of his tanned body, topped by the darker shade of his “boppy” hair – the top center hair sticking up, as if independent and free, or just naturally unruly, or deliberately mis-combed – is meant to give by the upright nature of his hair, a subtle hint to the expression of the face and the inner emotional response of interest, or awe, or of deep contemplation and quiet stillness…

Is the boy then really the subject of this photo, this art piece, or is it at that which he gazes?  And is it the powerful beauty and nearness of the waves that he beholds, or has something else stilled him and captured his mind?  Or, is it both the boy and what he gazes at that is the subject?  For does one without the other have any meaning?  Also, is there still more that composes the subject?  Perhaps the truest subject of this art piece?

The boy is not a mythic figure outside of time, for his right nipple is shown, emphasizing his flesh.  This is a real boy – a boy of flesh and life, within a real world, not a Pinocchio of wood, or a statue of marble, but he is real, a young boy of flesh and blood and bones.

And, yet, only a portion of his nipple is shown.  So, for the photographer, the artist, this is a real boy, yes, but is there something of him, perhaps of his gaze, that elevates him to something other than just his flesh?  And is this the intent of the artist, or just an accident of camera angle, a random thought, or is it the beholding and appreciation of something intrinsic to all those created in the image and likeness of God, regardless of age and era?  And if yes, what is it? 

Who and what determines the true meaning of an object of art?  Or does the meaning – the inner apprehension – always, and only, reside within the individual soul?  And regardless of age and learning, is that meaning always capable of being expressed in words?  Or are beauty, awe, and the sense of the otherness of something bigger, apart, and beyond us – communicated in full within our soul, within our spirit, only by the Spirit of our God?

The title then – “A Young Boy Gazes at the Ocean” – is perhaps only a shadow of the truth at most.  For with his eyes, he is seeing an ocean, yes, but are his eyes and mind and inner being comprehending the ocean or more watching the waves? And if yes, what is it that he sees?  Their power?  Their restless and endless nature?  Are they beautiful, or a power to be wary of and carefully watched from a distance, or both?  In his own young mind, is he really gazing upon an ocean?  Does he even understand what an ocean is, even while standing at its edge?  Or is he gazing at something within the water, or something even beyond the waves?  Something eternally beyond our knowing?

And if you asked this boy to answer these questions, and if you pose these artistic and profoundly human questions to him, would he understand the queries, would he have answers, would he even have the vocabulary and words sufficient to explain what it is he has been gazing at?  And worse, would our questions inadvertently, and sadly, intrude into this experience in his mind and interrupt the process initiated within him by what his eyes beheld, and what was settling without words into his soul?  For was he even consciously thinking, or was he just fully experiencing what was before him within the ever-deepening quietness of his inner being without thought?  And at his deepest, does he just innately know and understand the beauty and awe before him communicated without words or speech, the purest and deepest form of communication within?

For with this photo, the title proves to be only a flat approximate factual statement.  But when the viewer stops to gaze at the photo, and impressions and thoughts begin to rise and stir within, that is when the photo becomes art, when the mind and soul and spirit of the viewer becomes engaged with the artistic expression of another human, the expression, an object, that is before them, and that they pause to behold, and not before.

For what the boy is seeing and understanding, whatever it is that touches his soul, that is the central focus and subject of the photo, this art piece, and one which we cannot know.  But our experience of the photo and the boy within our own mind and soul – that is art opening within us – and that is always a higher and deeper form of art, than what is just initially visible in front of us.  To truly understand art is to understand another person.

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However, though I will spend such lengthy deep thought and communion with certain art objects and photos, especially of children and grandchildren, I do confess, at times, I find the thoughts of others misaligned and tedious. So, as a simple and refreshing parting thought, I also assert and deeply know, that this photo, in and of itself, without any deeper thought or knowledge, is beautiful, with a still and quiet boy wondrously framed within a powerful and living ocean view, and this, just this, delights the eyes and satisfies deep within, and this too is art! Hallelujah!

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