Is That All There Is?

(Graphite pencil on paper, 18”x13.5”)

There are few dimensions of human existence with such inherent duality as the temporal. We seem to be forever divided between the past and the future, occupying an intangible and elusive time called the present. It can be daunting to look back or ahead, especially when you reach the halfway point in life. That’s why I was inspired to name this seventh piece of the Half-life series after the song that represents it on the Half-life playlist: Peggy Lee’s “Is That All There Is?” takes that disquietude over what has been and what’s to come, douses it with gasoline and flicks a lit match at it. “Is that all there is to a fire?” the lyrics then ask. Regarding what lies behind, the singer is unimpressed. What lies ahead? She’s unafraid. In a similar manner, I composed this graphite self-portrait with the figure in profile facing right, turned from what was before, ready for what is next.

By the end of the song, however, a scorched-earth policy is in effect. With no joy in the past and no hope for the future, our narrator has willfully resigned herself to a hedonistic state, living only for the moment’s pleasure.

Which seems reasonable.

“If that’s all there is…”

But is it?

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCqyznXdAYhqp0YVi6XnXe9b9_HxuVqXa