"The Fate of the Written Word"

By Chester Arnold

Chester Arnold was born in Santa Monica, California.  Shortly after that in 1957 he and his family moved to Munich, Germany where he attended school there until 1969, and during this time he attended an art exhibit by Max Beckmann; he was an artist who painted with a lot of spiritual dimension and who greatly inspired Arnold in his artwork.  Shortly after he and his family returned to the United States where he continued his studies through the 1970's.  He was the first in his family to go to college and by the late 1980's had become the father of two daughters.  Chester Arnold currently lives in Sonoma, California.

While I was attending the "Chester Arnold" exhibit entitled "On Earth as it is in Heaven", at the Nevada Museum of Art and viewing all of his paintings that were on display there, it was clear for me to see that these paintings have a lot to do with his view on the role that society is/isnt taking in its responsibility of our planet.  Yet the titles seem to suggest a biblical or at least spiritual meaning.  While there, I was drawn to one particular painting because of its title, "The Fate of the Written Word" which was created in 2007 and is done on linen with oil paint and is 64x72 inches.  The painting is a scene of an old cracked road with trees on either side, and scattered all over the road and all around the trees appears to be peoples garbage, which consists of paper, old shoes,an old tire from a car, a book, a picture frame, old cardboard boxes, a cup and even a roll of toilet paper.

My first interpretation of this painting, because of its title was that it showed human beings blatant disregard for the Bible (the Lord's written word), and all that is contained within it.  By the types of items on the road and the way they were just thrown about, it seems to say how nothing seems to matter much to people.  However, another interpretation could be that before not to long human beings may no longer have any need for the pen and paper, because of technology and the fact that most everything is done on computers.  It's clear to see that through Arnolds art work he is expressing his deep concern for humanity and our world.  Is he then through his artwork trying to get people to also feel the intense concern for humanity?