When assessing a work of art, a friend asks a potent, and hyperbolic, question: When all of this goes up in flames, will we really make room for this (painting, sculpture, film, etc.) on the boat?

Inspired by the metaphor at the core of his question, by Federico Fellini's film "And the Ship Sails On," haunted by the images of Hurricane Katrina, and the artist Ron B. Kitaj's (American, 1932-2007) comparison of painting to "a refugee's suitcase," I've begun this series of paintings exploring the idea that beauty is a form of refuge, escape, self restoration and regeneration.

As an artist who has also spent time as a museum and gallery professional, I see our concept of art intertwined with human impulses expressed in the midst of the ongoing cycles of destruction and preservation of material culture, in which, we attempt to use objects as lasting reminders of ourselves, and our values and aspirations. I call it, "Aesthetic Darwinism."

I am astonished by the amount of beauty that manages to survive in spite of the catastrophes of history. This is becoming a major preoccupation of my work. --Bruce Linn, 2009

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