Nobody’s fool

Posted on June 14, 2006 by Dave Bonta
This entry is part 3 of 15 in the series Self-Portraits

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My third entry in the self-portrait marathon

How public. Like a frog.

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About Dave Bonta

Dave Bonta (bio) crowd-sources his problems by following his gut, which he shares with one quadrillion of his closest microbial friends --- a tight-knit, symbiotic community comprising some 500 different species of bacteria, fungi, and protozoa.
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10 Responses to Nobody’s fool

  1. MB says:
    June 14, 2006 at 4:56 pm

    “…To tell one’s name—the livelong June—
    To an admiring Blog!”

    …sorry, couldn’t resist!

  2. patry says:
    June 14, 2006 at 9:25 pm

    You look more serious than I imagine you. Like the green tones though.

  3. Brenda says:
    June 14, 2006 at 10:50 pm

    Reminds me somehow of the Gulag Archipelago and Kafka; not that I’m saying you look like Solzhenitsyn here (we know you don’t, we’ve seen you in colour), or that NOBODY might be, well, whoever, and we know you’re not on trial, oh sheesh. Maybe I’d better stop here. It’s a rather striking image in a number of ways…

  4. Dave says:
    June 15, 2006 at 7:57 am

    MB – Heh. Yep!

    Patry – Sometimes I’m fairly solemn, actually. Like all day yesterday, while my niece danced spontaneously and told silly stories, it was all I could do to crack a smile.

    Brenda – This portrait shows a side of me that I’m not particularly proud of. Oddly, all the “nobody”s do nothing to counteract the effect. I suppose I’ll continue to use this self-portrait marathon as an excuse to confront issues of ego and self-image.

    I don’t know if that addresses your comment or not.

  5. Natalie says:
    June 15, 2006 at 9:00 am

    Dave, your green self (I like it) reminds me so much of a portrait by…(famous old or new master) can’t think of it now – must try and find it and send it to you.

    “tree flesh” – never thought of it that way. But isn’t it generous of trees to give us their flesh so freely, so that we can cover it with our poor attempts to find a meaning in the universe? A meaning they already know, without the benefit of thought. Or am I antropomorphising?

  6. Dave says:
    June 15, 2006 at 10:01 am

    Nothing wrong with anthropomorphising — it’s often the most authentic way to relate to the non-human world. But I do feel that making paper from trees is a criminal waste of their flesh, which could be better employed for furniture and other durable, well-craftred things. Paper can be made from rags, rice, kenaf, hemp — you name it.

  7. mary says:
    June 25, 2006 at 3:15 pm

    *I suppose I’ll continue to use this self-portrait marathon to confront issues of ego and self-image.”

    Yup. Me too.

    And I really like this one.

  8. Dave says:
    June 25, 2006 at 8:44 pm

    Thanks, mary. I’m looking forward to seeing what else you (and Brenda and the others) come up with. I think I;’m almost out of ideas, myself.

  9. Brenda says:
    June 25, 2006 at 10:09 pm

    Why is it that I seriously browse my subscriptions, reading here, there, everywhere, and when I come to your site I’ll read something you’ve written and end up having a good chuckle. Or outright laugh.

    You could never be out of ideas, yourself, Dave! You could start a whole new series. In my neck of the woods (or street trees, I do live in a city), my self portrait is done tired of walking, but I came all the way to oil paints, and that is where Natalie told me to begin. Sigh, I shoulda listened…

    There are two more weeks in this marathon. Just a reminder!

  10. Dave says:
    June 26, 2006 at 8:07 am

    O.K., thanks for the encouragement. I’m not gonna force it, because I’m curious to see what happens (if anything). But I’ll be sure to stop by and see your oil paintings.