Heart.

Chatham, Approaching Storm, 1991

From a recent Russell Chatham interview done by Cowboys & Indians Magazine ...

C&I:  Back to the brush.  What do you want people to ultimately take from your paintings, including for the few who can take pride in owning one?

CHATHAM:  Excitement.  A rush or an energy that comes from something I've put my heart into without false motive or artifice.  When art is working, there's a certain joy that's conveyed.  Along with a feeling play -- the sense that what the artist was doing when he created this was having a helluva good time.  I think people are naturally attracted to that energy, often without really even knowing it, but that's what's making it work for them.

When it comes down to it, that's pretty much what it's always really about, right?  Something that's just it.

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