The sea doesn't get wet in the rain

  

The sea doesn't get wet in the rain, oil on canvas, 193.9 x 130.3cm, 2020  

The phrase 'The sea doesn't get wet in the rain' has long captivated me. Words have a magical power over people. Perhaps it's because of this that I'm strangely nostalgic and have developed the habit of sitting on a beach somewhere once a year and watching the waves lap at my feet. The reason the ocean never gets wet is because it's so deep and wide. No matter how long it rains, there is never enough rainwater to cover the ocean. The same is true for human history. For those of us who have lived from the past to the present, even the most difficult events are just a one-act play. Our lives, on the other hand, are much longer and more discontinuous, and from a distance, they seem to flow into a single horizon. Like an ocean that receives all its currents and keeps them calm, sometimes reacting violently.