Let Loose— Now at the Principle Gallery, Alexandria
It is an uneasy lot at best, to be what we call highly taught and yet not to enjoy: to be present at this great spectacle of life and never to be liberated from a small hungry shivering self.
–George Eliot, Middlemarch
The title for this new large painting (24″ by 60″ on canvas) is Let Loose. It could be both a description of liberation and a command for the individual to do so.
It’s works for me in this painting that sets the flailing crown of the Red Tree and the writhing trunks of the surrounding trees against the angular containment of the colors of the fields, the Red Roofs, and the marks that make up the sky. I see the surrounding trees in a choreography that is a signal for the Red Tree to break free and dance with them.
To let loose and express its wildness. Its uninhibited beauty. Its true self.
I delivered this new painting to the Principle Gallery yesterday along with the other works that comprise this year’s show, Passages. The exhibit opens Friday, June 9, and will be on the walls of the gallery and available for previews after tomorrow.
I will be at the exhibit’s opening reception (6-8:30 PM) this year for the first time in four years and am looking forward to talking a bit about the work as well as seeing it in the gallery space, particularly this piece. Though I have ample space in the studio, seeing it in the setting of the gallery is always a different thing.
It’s like the painting is finally freed from my control.
Let loose.
On that same theme, this is a longtime fave of mine, I’m Free, from the Rolling Stones. It’s off their 1965 album, December’s Children (And Everybody’s) here in the US, Out of Our Heads in the UK.
I’m free to do what I want any old time
So love me, hold me
Love me, hold me
Redtree Times 
Context makes a difference. An unframed painting changes once framed, and a framed painting looks different in a gallery than in a home. It’s really, really interesting how the wrong frame can detract from the best painting, and how a new space can make one shine.
Yes, context is a big deal, something that I see all the time dealing with my work on social media. The screen of a laptop or a phone doesn’t give the context of space so pieces that might not draw much attention online are often the most popular pieces in person.
The frame you’re talking about is a very simple one that I make here in the studio. I only use it once in a while since I am not fully equipped or have the time to do them for all the works. I might start doing more of them in the future. Who knows? All the best, Tony!