The world is full of filters.
I don’t just mean the coffee filter that makes sure your espresso beans don’t end up in your morning coffee, or the charcoal that removes impurities from the water you’re using to make your espresso.
I’m talking about information filters.
This has affected my life as a fine artist and creator of Toronto illustration prints.
When you watch the mainstream news, for example, you’re watching it through a filter.
This filter is what the media company has deemed either important enough for you to know, or it fits the narrative of the world they want you to believe.
The National post, for example, has an obvious filter for conservative information, while the Toronto Star favours liberal stories.
You’re always looking at the world through someone else’s filter.
And at a certain point, these filters are impossible to get away from.
After all, isn’t your mind a filter as well?
Isn’t your life experience a filter?
As an Italian-born immigrant to Toronto, I feel like my family has been able to make a good life here.
To us, our story is the dream of many immigrant families, of moving to a new place with very little and building our dream.
But to those who dislike Italians, or immigrants in general, our story might not be so heartwarming.
Still, even though we have to accept the fact that a certain number of filters exist in life from which we can’t escape, it’s still a good idea to eliminate as many of them as possible.
This lets us see the world for how it really is, pure, unadulterated, unaffected by anyone else’s ideas of what something “should” be.
My Glasses
I’ve been wearing glasses for a number of years now.
Part of life, I suppose.
I’m fortunate enough to live in a time where my declining eyesight can be fixed.
If not, I’d have had a hard time making a career for myself as an artist.
At the same time though, my glasses are another filter between me and the rest of the world.
When I wear them, I can see nothing at all except through the filter of their lenses.
But I can’t paint without them.
Once upon a time, I was able to paint a painting without considering whether or not I was wearing a pair of glasses.
There was no filter between me and the medium, no interruption.
Just complete silence, the only motion being that of my hand as I made line after line on the page or the canvas.
Now I need to take them off and put them on over and over.
It’s jarring, interrupts me.
I’m thankful that I can still paint regardless of my deteriorating eyesight, but always long for a simpler time with fewer filters.
I suppose that’s what it’s like to move forward in time and grow older.
The more life experience you have, the more filters you’ll have in your mind, and the more difficult it becomes to attain a pure experience.
That must be one of the reasons we all long for the past, for a simpler time.
But at least I can still see.
Contact Francesco Galle
If you’re interested in Toronto art prints, take a look at the prints I have for sale on my website.
They’re available in a wide variety of styles, sizes, and media, so you can order them based on the space you have available, whether it’s a large wall in your living room or a small space in your bedroom.
I’m also available for commissioned works.
If you’d like to commission me, or if you have any questions about the art you find on this site, contact me using the information below.