outsiders2

The Outsiders

Duct Tape Viking 40x48

The Deacon 40x48

Dog Man 40x56

Divinity 48x60

Maudi and The General 46x46

Maria, Joe and The Baby 40x48

The Oracle 40x48

God 30x48

Pieta 46x46

The Prince 46x56

Wizard 36x48

Being a sort of outsider himself, Peter has been keen
to look at and paint other folks outside of “normal”
society. Originally it was to be only street people, but he
found that definition too narrow. Being outside can occur
in many places and times. Outsider ness can have
degrees of estrangement. One could be an outsider only
in the interior of the mind.
Some years ago Peter founded the Maine Adventure
Society Inc. a fantasy live action role-playing gaming
organization for his friends and his teen aged children.
The game, which takes place on his farm throughout the
summer, quickly grew to include all sorts of people from
an Oxford Don to a minister, from a K Street lawyer and
to the occasional Nazi criminal. In order for a person to
participate in the game, they had to create the persona
and its costume for the character they would play. It is
amazing to observe how the game functions as a
microcosm of our greater society. The costumes and
characters the players come up with are astounding and
reflect some kind of inner need as well as an outlet for
untapped creativity. Observing people that live outside
of normal society, perhaps out on the street, homeless,
he realized that much of the same process goes on.
Street people were creating themselves in artful and
fascinating and unfortunately, for the most part, sad
ways. Further more, looking at the general population of
“normal people” he thought perhaps the same character
creation process goes on and even has become a
marketing tool. I am a Pepper. I am a Viking. I drive an
SUV. I have a drug and a power ring. I am rich, so you
are beneath me. I am so nasty or violent that you are
afraid of me, and so on.
Then to go on to view much of our social customs,
religious beliefs and politics as, in essence a role playing
game, is to peel away many layers of untruths. We fight
wars and do other horrific things based upon our
perceptions within a made up co created script, a script
that is written for the most part by people of power.
So this is how I made myself or an homage to
outsiders. Dr Richard Rays