Student and Master— Soon at West End Gallery
A life in harmony with nature, the love of truth and of virtue, will purge the eyes to understand her text. By degrees we may come to know the primitive sense of the permanent objects of nature, so that the world shall be to us an open book, and every form significant of its hidden life and final cause.
–Ralph Waldo Emerson, Language
This is a new painting (12″ by 6″ on canvas) headed to the West End Gallery for my annual solo show there. The title, Student and Master, describes a narrative and also presents a bit of a riddle.
The narrative is in the relationship between the three (or maybe four or even five, depending on how you look at it) elements of the scene. Initially, I saw the Red Chair, which represents the human element in my interpretation, and the Crow both serving as students to the imparted wisdom from the Sun, which I saw as representing the force of Nature.
But the more I lived with this piece, the more I began to see it as a riddle, an enigma. Was the Crow student to the Sun but also Master to the Red Chair? Or was the Red Chair somehow Master to the Crow? After all, the Red Chair has its back turned to the Sun as though it is beyond the teachings of Nature. Plus, the Crow often studies us in silent proximity.
But I concluded that the Crow was not the student of the Red Chair since the Crow, while no doubt learning a bit from us, often watches us with bemusement at our fumbling relationship to the natural world. Much like a Master shaking their head at the flailing antics of a poor Student.
I imagine everyone will have their own take on this since we all see the world and our relationship to it in different ways. Which is a good thing. The danger comes in believing that our interpretations are absolute and beyond question. Perhaps we all need to try to change our perspective once in a while and attempt to see beyond our initial reading of things.
Maybe we should all see ourselves as the Students we should be and not as the Masters we believe ourselves to be.
I’ll let you chew on that for a bit. In the meantime, here’s a newer, interesting video of a favorite song from the Beatles, Tomorrow Never Knows. Seems to fit this morning.
Student and Master is included in Eye in the Sky, my 22nd annual solo exhibit at the West End Gallery in Corning, NY. The exhibit opens next Friday, July 21 with an Opening Reception that runs from 5-7 PM. I will be in attendance to chat and answer questions. Maybe to even ask a few myself. Hope to see you there.
Redtree Times 