In the Eye– Now at West End Gallery
The spring without a leaf to toss, bare and bright like a virgin fierce in her chastity, scornful in her purity, was laid out on fields wide-eyed and watchful and entirely careless of what was done or thought by the beholders.
–Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse
I always have a problem in choosing which pieces to highlight here in the days right before an opening. I want them to strongly emit the theme that particular show. Since the exhibit opening tomorrow at the West End Gallery is titled Eye in the Sky, this new smaller painting made my decision this morning much easier.
It is titled In the Eye.
The title is partly taken from the saying beauty is in the eye of the beholder, something which is hard to argue with. That’s the basis for all of art. But, given the show’s title with its emphasis on the sun/moon serving as an ever vigilant and silent witness as well as a source of cryptic wisdom, I saw the crows here as being in the eye of the beholding moon.
But it also referred to the eyes of the crows, who in much the same way as the sun/moon, serve as witness to the natural world and humans around which they reside.
There are a number of things in this piece that stand out for me. The color of the sky around the moon has the feel of the dream from which I derived the show’s title. It gives the moon that effect of it being an eye looking through a hatch which is the break it creates in the dense cloud bank before it. The clouds themself have a slate grayness that I seldom employ. But here it serves as a wonderful contrast to the the light around the beholding Eye as well as the vivid orange of the field in the foreground and the icy blue from fields in the mid-ground.
As always, that’s my read on it. You do what you will with it. You are the beholder here.
I have included a Brandi Carlile song from several years back below, mainly for the title but also because it’s just a lovely tune. It’s called The Eye. Not the same eye mentioned here, instead referring to the eye of a hurricane. Doesn’t matter to me though. Give a listen, if you’re so inclined.
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Eye in the Sky, my 22nd annual solo show at the West End Gallery is now hanging and is available for previews. The show opens tomorrow, Friday, July 21, with an Opening Reception from 5-7 PM. I will be there for questions, comments, or insults, if that’s what you really want to do. Hope to see you there!
Redtree Times 