Ever since I painted Lake House, I’d been interested in the juxtaposition of untouched nature with the stark effects from man. I had originally planned on putting a large cube house in the middle of that painting, but chickened out at the end. Tyrant was to be my redemption.

The friend I painted this for is a total type-A personality guy. He’s very outgoing, opinionated, and confident, and I figured/hoped that he would enjoy a painting that is kind of in-your-face like this one.  Not to say he’s a tyrant, of course.  🙂

I heard a Daniel Defoe quote once that always stuck with me.
“Nature has left this tincture in the blood,
That all men would be tyrants if they could.”

He wrote it explaining how it is in men’s inherent nature to always strive for power and control.

I felt like the quote matched very well with my feeling that while humans are part of nature and therefore everything we do and create is completely natural, somehow, it feels or looks different than the rest of nature. We are part of nature, yet separate. I’ve come to the conclusion that is it due to our overreaching goals to control and dominate every part of our environment. The city could never be confused with the forest, because while the bear and trees integrate into the forest, man tears the forest apart and builds the city to perfectly cater to all his wants/needs, for better or worse.

So the Defoe quote nicely sums up this idea of nature and man, and how man always strives to be a tyrant. Mike lives in Portland, OR and there are few places as beautiful and rich in nature as Oregon. Yet, go to Portland, and you will see the drastic effects of man on the “natural” environment.