Writght Morris- Straightback Chair, The Home Place
One of the most common questions I am asked at gallery openings or talks is about the meaning behind the Red Chair in my paintings. I always struggle to answer. Maybe because the answer is always changing for me. I don’t really know. I do know that I use it in my work because the chair is such an identifiable image that is known to anyone in nearly any culture and has an inherent meaning in its form. A place to sit and rest. Or eat. Or converse. Or any number of things. It is simply an icon of human existence.
But looking through some photo sites I came across the work of Nebraska-born photographer/writer Wright Morris (1910-1998). His stark and striking images of the Plains will seem very familiar to anyone who saw last year’s Alexander Payne film, Nebraska. I don’t know but would not be surprised if Morris’ imagery was a big influence on the visual look of the black and white film.
Wright Morris- Chair, The Home Place
But while looking at some of these photos I came across a few images of chairs in a farmhouse. They were from a book of his titled The Home Place, a photo-novel telling the story of a man’s one-day visit to where he had spent his childhood in Nebraska, the home place. The images were very evocative and looking at them, it dawned on me that the meaning of the Red Chair was the same. It was so obvious– it was the Home Place. The place where you have a chair in which to sit, accepted as a part of that place.
It is simple yet powerful, like Wright Morris’ photos.
It’s good to have an answer to give now when someone asks…
Redtree Times 