METAMORPHOSIS
Signed by David Suzuki

“metamorphosis”

Before producing my paintings, the concept is usually planned with a short story. This is the story I envisioned of Metamorphosis.

It’s summer vacation. Your young body is awakened earlier than normal by the robins outside your window and you have an exciting feeling come over you that makes you feel that the entire world is calling you into an incredible adventure. So you grab a pair of pants and a shirt from the chair by your bed and head for the back door…quietly of course…you don’t want to wake anyone who might ask questions and break the magic spell that has got a hold of you.

Quickly looking around, you gather a few items; an old green knap-sack, your handmade net (the one that Dad helped you make), and on the way through the kitchen you snatch a canning jar, just in case, and oh yes…an apple for sustenance on your journey. You’re pulled along by that mysterious force to the same piece of marsh shore you’ve been to a hundred times before. Seeing a bright green frog on the water’s edge, you carefully slip your net over him and prepare to release him into the jar. Realizing that the container should have water in it to allow your temporary friend a more comfortable surrounding, you place your jar in the pond, scoop up some water, and then gently set the frog in.

As you lift the jar up to allow the morning sunlight to filter through, you suddenly notice several small black creatures swimming around your new companion. Your shock turns quickly to amazement as you discover that these unexpected guests are tadpoles and all parties in this jar are the same creature at different stages in life. Although you know so little about them at this moment, you are breathlessly intrigued.

…Forty years later you’re drawn again. No knap-sack handy, but you do have a net and this time a beaker. You are drawn to the same spot and you smell those same smells. A shiver grows rapidly up to your spine as you experience a very healthy shot of melancholy. You spot that frog, but this time as you scoop up some water, it’s not quite as clear as you once remembered and there are no black creatures in the beaker with your old friend…but this time you know him so much better.

You realize that the magic is weaker. You are more aware of the sensitive world around you and that you possess the strength and spirit to help put back those missing pieces.

So you are once again pulled by that force…you are that same creature stooping at the water’s edge…but at a different stage in life.

A Special Request By The Artist My personal life statement is, “I, Ronald Suchiu, must help to make the world a better place through my depth of vision.” Please look as deep as you wish into my painting “Metamorphosis”, but never forget that it is merely an illusion. On the other hand …Dr. David Suzuki is very real and he deals with a very real world that has many very real problems. I only request that whenever you have a chance to hear David speak…Listen to him…Believe in him. He is being driven by forces and feelings few of us will ever experience.