Jordan Henderson's response to my critical review of his latest painting

Blazing Reader,

In response to my critical review of Jordan Henderson's latest painting, he sent me this email:

Thank you for reviewing my latest painting and sharing the review with your readers. I appreciate that you are willing to critically review it and say what you don't like - that makes the times you do like something much more significant as it establishes that you won't shy away from stating what you really think: people too often choose niceness over honesty, and no matter how nice a reviewer, to be good they've got to be honest.

Your critique is of course valid: no previous sociopolitical painting of mine has relied almost entirely on written statements to convey it's message as has this one - it directly and almost completely breaks the show-don't-tell rule.

For various reasons though, I decided to go forward with it, break that rule, and tell rather than show, and I'm pretty pleased with the telling - though I certainly get why some viewers might find a direct tell highly objectionable.

Thanks again for the review,

--Jordan

Well, I wouldn't say I found it "highly objectionable" — just slightly disappointing. It was a great cartoon, just not the usual style or approach I love about Jordan's artwork. It was sort of like when M. Night Shyamalan produced The Happening after such great films as The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable and The Village.

I followed up with Jordan, saying that I'd love to know his reasons for breaking the show-don't-tell rule. I'm fond of rule-breaking. I also asked if I could share his response with you, my blazing readers. So stay tuned.

John C.A. Manley

P.S. If you missed my review of Jordan's painting you can check it out here: Why I'm disappointed with "Contraindication" (Jordan Henderson's latest sociopolitical painting)

P.P.S. And don't miss the documentary-style interview my son and I did with Jordan back in 2022: Exposing the New Normal Wolves

John C. A. Manley is the author of Much Ado About Corona, All The Humans Are Sleeping and other works of philosophical fiction that are "so completely engaging that you find yourself alternately laughing, gasping, hanging on for dear life." Get free samples of his stories by becoming a Blazing Pine Cone email subscriber.