Someway Somehow — At West End Gallery
…Perhaps
The truth depends on a walk around a lake, A composing as the body tires, a stop
To see hepatica, a stop to watch
A definition growing certain and A wait within that certainty, a rest
In the swags of pine-trees bordering the lake.
Perhaps there are times of inherent excellence
–Wallace Stevens, Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction (1942)
This new small painting, Someway Somehow, now showing at the West End Gallery as part of their Deck the Walls holiday exhibit, might well represent finding beauty and color amidst the ashes of the everyday. Much like the lines from Wallace Stevens above.
For me, it has the feel of dreaming for me. Maybe it would be better to say dreams set against reality.
Maybe that’s the same thing as what I derived from Stevens’ lines. Not sure this morning.
The lower part of the image is in tones of gray that symbolize the sometimes grayness and monotony of our everyday existence, that workaday part of our lives when we set aside our hopes and dreams to focus on tasks and responsibilities. The upper part is set in colors that represent for me the rare times we find in order to return to those hopes and dreams.
We often find ourselves living in that area that straddles both gray and color, with the hope that we can find a way to live in the color of our dreams. Getting to that place is sometimes a hard road to follow and too many people give up early on. But those who continue do so withe thought echoing in their mind that someday somehow they will reach that place.
The dream of the dream.
Here’s a tune to go along with it. It’s Follow That Dream from Bruce Springsteen. It’s often referred to as a cover of the Elvis Presley song from his 1962 movie of the same name. Springsteen has often referred to the Elvis song as a favorite and covered it a number of times in early concerts. I had a bootleg version of his cover that I can’t locate much to my dismay as it was a wonderful performance. The version of Follow My Dream from Springsteen that people might know is a reinvention of the song with altered melody, pace, and lyrics that he began performing in the early 1980’s. Not really the same song except for a few lines and its message.
But still effective. I think it fits well with this painting.
As I noted above, Someway Somehow is at the Deck the Walls show at the West End Gallery that opens today, Friday, November 22, with an opening reception that runs from 5-7 PM.
This morning, I came across a piece from poet Wallace Stevens (1879-1955) which was fortunate as I was inclined to not write anything this morning. I didn’t write anything the day before yesterday when the internet was down here as a result of a squirrel chewing on the cable on the pole outside the studio. They do that type of thing all the time.
Redtree Times 