So I googled myself this morning… hmm, that doesn’t sound right, so let me start again…
I did a Google search of myself this morning to see if my new site is being picked up by the search engines and was pleased to see that it was. I then clicked over to the images search and the first one that popped up was the image to the right which roughly translates to:
“Paul Kroner lived here. Born 1883 deported in 1943 and murdered in Auschwitz.”
The deceased lived at Lützowstraße 41, Berlin-Tiergarten, Germany and that is all I know about him. As far as I know, my German ancestors were not Jewish, but perhaps, as my friend John Young suggested, this Paul Kroner died resisting the Nazi efforts. I like that thought.
Regardless it sorta stopped me dead in my tracks (pardon the pun). There amidst numerous images of work I’ve created is this grave marker reminding me of the impermanence of life. Made me wonder whether the art we create now serves as a future marker of our past existence once we are gone? Or is it as fleeting as life itself? Not to be taken too seriously, but to be savored each and every day?
It is my belief that to create is to live, and vice versa. This feels real to me and has been a constant for me my entire life. I’ve been making things as far back as I can remember, and the act of creation serves as a “marker”of my existence. Perhaps not very zen of me, but it keeps me motivated and excited about getting up each morning, and I hope to take that to my grave. –PK