impressions from a time when you weren't even a glimmer

thoughts on laying claim to pieces of history that were not yours to begin with (mostly by virtue of the fact that you didn't yet exist)...

much like wearing a piece of your grandmother's jewelry or using your dad's old golf clubs in the backyard, marcel van eeden's self-charged artistic mission involves drawing a daily picture based on an image captured prior to his birth in 1965. how is this any different, i wonder, from writing a historically-based novel or making a film like schindler's list? you weren't there, you didn't live through it, you only have someone else's renderings to draw from...i'm not sure why this is innovative. art constantly stems from artifact across all media.

(from the morning news)