Pilgrim Rock– At West End Gallery
And thus ever by day and night, under the sun and under the stars, climbing the dusty hills and toiling along the weary plains, journeying by land and journeying by sea, coming and going so strangely, to meet and to act and react on one another, move all we restless travellers through the pilgrimage of life.
-Charles Dickens, Little Dorrit
This is a new small painting, 4″ by 2″ on paper, included in this year’s edition of Little Gems at the West End Gallery. The title that came to be attached to it is Pilgrim Rock. I am not exactly sure what it was in this piece, what mental connection was made, that brought that title.
I did see this odd, perilous little island as an enticement, a thing of strangeness and beauty that creates a longing in one who sees it from afar. The island with its Red Tree atop it draws these pilgrims but even as the pilgrim comes near to reaching this longed for place, its steep rocky walls keep them at a distance.
I don’t know exactly what that means in psychological terms, or if it has meaning at all. Or if what I see in it will be the same or similar to what anyone else sees. I could certainly imagine a number of other interpretations of it that tell much different stories.
I find this interesting that such a small and simple image could have multiple meanings and narratives attached to it. I think it’s that, even though it is limited in size and detail, it has space in it for the viewer to add their own feelings and experiences, to perhaps see themselves as the Pilgrim or the Red Tree.
Pieces like this with multiple possibilities create an enigma that always intrigues me.
Here’s a song to fill out today’s triad of image, word and song. It’s Pilgrimage from R.E.M. in 1983. It’s a song whose lyrics also offer multiple possibilities and interpretations, much like Pilgrim Rock. I sometimes find this song brightly positive and sometimes darkly cynical. My interpretation is as much about my feelings at the time as the song itself.
Like I said, an intriguing enigma.
Redtree Times 