Richard Nelson, a cabinetmaker by trade, salvaged discarded material from the September 11th, World Trade Center wreckage and transformed it into an artistic statement. Nelson is inspired by an ability to “create art from objects connected to times that have passed. Transform them; release their energies into something new.” The “Crying Door,” is a testament to the lost opportunities of those fallen, a door that will never be opened. For the artist, this work is a labor of love and a chance to shed light on a deep and dark affliction, still raw for many, 8 years later. To others, it may seem a slap in the face, a reminder of the divide between them and loved ones who could not be saved. Regardless of the controversy surrounding the Door, Richard Nelson is living his Truth, taking a stand, and being applauded for it by distinguished institutions, including the Guggenheim Museum, and by Truth Is Cool. He is expressing his internal and spiritual connection to the tragedy in a material manifestation of the searing pain and anguish felt by those left behind.
Although the plumes of smoke rising from the mangled heap of melted steel - results of our failure to protect our nation, blinded by our own ego as a world power - have cleared, a stench remains. Do you know what that smell is? It’s the smell of revolution. By accepting to live in a society “where people are being lied to every day - fueled by corruptive motives, power, money, celebrity - by those who care about nothing but their own indulgences, their own survival, we are creating our own demise."[1] We are at ground zero, ladies and gentleman. We must emerge, using the [2,750º] heat felt at the World Trade Center disaster to set ablaze our own passions, our own truths, to alter our course towards destruction.
[1] Tod Volpe, author of the acclaimed novel, Framed.
