![sisyphus painting sisyphus painting](https://a.1stdibscdn.com/archivesE/upload/9310/147/9310_1349535098_2.jpg)
The trial of an individual consists in his ability to act the particular in the universal, and not fall into the traps of the temporal systems of order. The paradox of faith is that one who has faith acts for the universal, but in acting for the universal must carry out particular tasks. Faith can be reached only through passion. The second is a bit more elusive, but bear with me. Repetition is an expression of belief and faith. Being capable of sustaining the repetition with consistency allows the decision to make manifest something beautiful.
![sisyphus painting sisyphus painting](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/67/9f/5a/679f5a0446f05a503513def1ed25d983.jpg)
The first is quite simple: the return is the ability to create a daily routine in which the laborer returns to his work, making the decision that the repetition of an action will allow for a transcendence of self. For me, there are two ways in which this painting takes up the concept of the return. The artistic act becomes an embodiment of the return. The painter becomes laborer in the painting of this piece. How the painting was made, and what the painting is of becomes inseparable. The intention with this painting was to construct a Sisyphean practice of painting that would intertwine with the image and composition of the painting. Sisyphus would return to the bottom of the mountain at day’s end, in order that he would push the rock back up again the next day. His punishment was to push a rock up a mountain each day, and each day the rock would roll back down. In Greek mythology, Sisyphus was a King who was punished by the gods for his chronic deceitfulness.