Well, I’ve delivered the work for my show that opens this coming Friday, July 24th, at the West End Gallery in Corning.
It’s always a bit strange those first few days after the studio is emptied of a great deal of work. The pieces had maintained a presence here for months, filling the space with a sort of life force, then suddenly, they’re gone. It always takes a few days for me to recover my equilibrium, to refocus, after I face the empty studio. I try to find a new destination, try to think of when and where the next step will be taken.
It’s as though, in preparing for a show, I am racing down a road towards a fixed point that looms on the horizon. As I near the deadline, the focus makes the road seem narrower and narrower. That fixed point is all that I can see. Then, upon delivery, it’s like I have burst through that point of destination and a whole new horizon suddenly opens before me in all directions. There’s a period of gathering one’s bearings, taking in all the possibilities of this new landscape I’m faced with.
And that’s where I find myself this morning. Horizons in every direction. The feeling of potential is wonderful but behind it there is always a nagging fear of making the wrong move, choosing the wrong direction. It’s a fear of freedom, the same type described by Erich Fromm in his book, Escape From Freedom, from the early 1940’s. He basically (it’s much more in depth than I’m going to paraphrase) said that while everyone craves total freedom, few are prepared for the self-responsibility that comes with it. Most feel the need for guidance of some sort.
A point on their horizon. A destination.
So, here I am today.
The painting at the top, Gather the Light, is part of the West End show. It’s a piece that I very much like for many reasons. I think there’s a certain dynamism to the color and light that gives it real oomph. While there is this dynamic feel, it doesn’t betray the quietude and introspective nature of the piece. I like that tension between these two aspects of the painting. It creates a layer of interest that is really felt and not seen.
Hopefully, other will feel this as well…
Redtree Times 