2020 August 15 - New York City, USA

The summer heat clings to the streets of New York, a city pulsing with the fervor of its inhabitants and the tensions that divide them. Here, amidst the cacophony of voices, the air is charged with the friction of ideologies – a dance of conservative tradition against the progressive tide, each step a testament to the city's enduring spirit of debate and dissent.

It is against this backdrop that I find solace in the company of James Bidgood, an artist whose work stands as a vibrant defiance against the creeping shadows of intolerance. His studio, a bastion of color and light, is a refuge from the external clamor, a space where the imagination reigns supreme.

Bidgood, with his keen eye for the whimsical and the beautiful, crafts visions that celebrate the human form and spirit. His tableaux, rich with fantasy and a poignant sense of escapism, offer a counterpoint to the prevailing narrative of discord. They serve as a reminder that art can be both a mirror to our world and a window to worlds unimagined.

Our conversation meanders through the realms of artistic expression and the role of the artist as a commentator on the times. Bidgood, undeterred by the societal schism, believes in art’s ability to bridge divides, to heal, and to provoke thought. His optimism is not naive but rooted in the knowledge that creativity has always been a catalyst for change.

As I leave his studio, the streets of New York seem a little less daunting, the skyline a silhouette of dreams yet to be realized. The city, like Bidgood's art, is a canvas of complexity, painted with the broad strokes of its past and the finer lines of its present.