This series of 12″x12″ paintings is a contemplation of ,and reaction to, Paul Simon’s 2023 music album and meditation on life, “Seven Psalms.” I have been deeply affected by this work and engaged in this painting project over the last two years to find a visual response and my own thinking about life and where I am now.
In the lyrics of the song, two cows are having an argument, and one calls the other one a name. Simon sings, “In my personal opinion, all cows are the same.” I met these cows on a hiking trip through Austria and wanted to paint them, but they did not connect to this album until after I began the work, when I remembered Simon’s absurd story. I don’t think he’s asking us to stop politics, but to remember that there are more things that unite us than divide us. There is more beauty and more at stake than our arguments of the moment and if we could remember, we could accomplish greater things. – Clifton Taylor