Why Concord
Oil on Canvas
David E. Owen
18" x 18"
While the painting does not strictly replicate the geographic contours of the Assabet, Sudbury, and Concord Rivers, its proportions are intentional. The Concord River, in the northeast quadrant of the canvas, is exaggerated relative to its real-world scale to indicate its symbolic primacy: it receives the flow of the others and carries that flow
into the future.
Its placement also reflects the symbolism of the “upper-right” quadrant—a position modern viewers, especially those from business or data-literate backgrounds, often associate with
strength, growth, and leadership.
This work emerges at a personal and civic crossroads. The artist, recently freed from professional constraints, turned to Concord’s rivers and its timeless role as a gathering place—a practice rooted in personal history, research into local Indigenous cultures, and active civic involvement in environmental restoration and historical interpretation. Why Concord is a reflection on permanence in a
moment of great uncertainty.
