In Stillness and Rhythm– In the Upcoming Principle Gallery Show
There is a point where in the mystery of existence contradictions meet; where movement is not all movement and stillness is not all stillness; where the idea and the form, the within and the without, are united; where infinite becomes finite, yet not losing its infinity. If this meeting is dissolved, then things become unreal.
–Rabindranath Tagore, Personality: Lectures Delivered in America, 1918
In Stillness and Rhythm, shown above, is a new 24″ by 24″ painting on canvas that will be headed to the Principle Gallery this coming weekend. It is part of my annual solo show there which this year opens on Friday, June 9th.
I see this piece as being about the coming together of contradictory elements, much those described in the passage above from Rabindranath Tagore. Within it there is, to my eye, stillness and motion, light and dark, coolness and warmth, and the earthly and the infinite.
Like many things that come to rest at this this juncture between such opposing elements, there is a contemplative feel to it, along with a sense of calmness and rightness.
It’s one of those pieces that has its own presence and fullness yet still has space for the viewer to enter and become part of it. That’s hard to explain but that’s the feeling I get from this painting and one that I aspire to in my work, as a rule.
Here’s a musical selection that seems to work well with this painting. It’s a choral composition, Music of Stillness, from Elaine Hagenberg based the poem, below There Will Be Rest, from the late poet Sara Teasdale.
There will be rest, and sure stars shining
Over the roof-tops crowned with snow,
A reign of rest, serene forgetting,
The music of stillness holy and low.
I will make this world of my devising
Out of a dream in my lonely mind.
I shall find the crystal of peace, – above me
Stars I shall find.
— Sara Teasdale, There Will Be Rest
My solo exhibit, Passages, opens Friday, June 9 at the Principle Gallery in Alexandria, VA. I will be attending the opening reception that evening that runs from 6:30 – 9 PM. Hope to see you there!
Redtree Times 
Of course Tagore’s words recall those of my beloved Eliot:
“At the still point of the turning world… there the dance is,
But neither arrest nor movement.
And do not call it fixity,
Where past and future are gathered.
Neither movement from nor towards,
Neither ascent nor decline.
Except for the point, the still point,
There would be no dance, and there is only the dance.”
Lovely…