Tuesday, June 5:
 |
| With my latest painting, retitled: "Beauty in What's Left Behind" |
I entered
this painting (see my previous post) into the juried "Still
Life" exhibit where I work. It was not selected from the 200 entries...
wow, 200 entries. They could only pick about 40 pieces for the
exhibit, so I don't feel too badly today. You never know what will
inspire each juror or the quality of the works entered. There is no
point in deliberating over a show rejection-- just move on to the next
one!
I was thinking more about the meaning of this
painting to me today, and how it highlights a place not that many people
seem to know about from the Bay Area. What should be so significant
about Salt Point to San Franciscan's is that it is the place where they
removed rock to use in the building of the streets of San Francisco in
the 1800's. I was also thinking about "emptiness", "cavities", "convex
forms".... Beauty in the hollowed out spaces that are left behind when
something dies? We love shells, which are shiny, colorful and beautiful
remains of what once was. These hollowed out tafoni rock formations
look almost skull-like, mimicking the cavities in the eye-sockets of a
skull we might see on Halloween or Day of the Dead. The only thing here
that is alive is the Rhododendron, but it's blossom is ephemeral, and it too will fade, leaving behind only the empty vase.
This
piece speaks to the beauty in things that are left behind, empty and
now transformed into something completely unique, for us humans to
marvel at. We go to the beach and hunt for treasures left behind by
other creatures. It is a very lovely and thoughtful thing to collect
seashells by the seashore. Imagine if there was nothing left behind for
us to collect and marvel at?
