“Night and Time and Place“- Now at the West End Gallery
The past,’ he thought, ‘is linked with the present by an unbroken chain of events flowing one out of another.’ And it seemed to him that he had just seen both ends of that chain; that when he touched one end the other quivered.
― Anton Chekhov, The Witch and Other Stories
I see this new painting, Night and Time and Place, as being about our relationship with time and place. It’s a piece that gives me great pause. In a calming way, mainly because it makes my own little worries and grievances seem insignificant when compared with the vastness of time and space.
But it also makes me realize how interconnected we are with the time and place in which we dwell. We like to think of ourselves as being independent creatures, moving forward free from any connection to the past or any ties to the world outside of our field of vision. We believe that the outer world does not concern us.
But we are, of course, dependent creatures. Even at the most essential level, we depend on a tenuous relationship with the closest star to provide us with heat and light. I say tenuous because it took eons to get to the point where the conditions making up the environment of this planet fed by our Sun could sustain us. And with but a little change in those conditions, our relationship with the Sun be comes much more difficult.
We are also dependent on the Earth for water and food. Again, it took ages to get to a point where the conditions of the water and the food we could eke out would sustain us. We live in a small notch in time that has the ability to sustain our fragile selves.
No, we are not independent, self-sustaining entities in any way. We are are on a chain connected to this place and to the other inhabitants of this planet, as far removed as they may sometimes seem. Our actions and choices affect them and vice versa. We all feel it when the chain is rattled.
And, as Chekhov’s character so aptly put, the past and present are part of that chain. The actions of the past often reverberate down the chain of our history. Like it or not, we will always be part of that chain and would be wise to pay attention when it quivers before moving forward.
All that said, I see this painting as being about feeling at peace with our arrangement with the universe, our dependence on the heat and light of the sun, the tidal power of the moon, the sustaining power of water and food, and of the clean air provided to us.
At peace knowing that our actions have meaning and consequence beyond what we see.
That we are part of this time and place.
Night and Time and Place is part of Through the Trees, my annual solo exhibit now hanging at the West End Gallery in Corning.
Redtree Times 