|
|
 |
 |
"Arbus Painting" oil 22" x
34" 1972 $25,000* |
|
Arbus Painting
In
an old chair I threw an Appalachian quilt
Someone else's careful workmanship
In brightly colored patches which lay
Following the chair and sang its lappish shape.
On one side I placed a broken mirror
On the other a photograph picture book
And together these reflected
Two girls so closely bound.
Within that space I placed a candelabra
Made exclusively of glass
Multiple tiny wind bells which
Held the tinkling light
And hung from string and red tin rings
Each a silent crimson mouth,
All fastened to yet a larger shape of wire and cloth.
Strange oracle
White rat in 'kerchief sniffing beyond
In dazzling child kimono.
And the twins on the cover,
And the twins in the mirror,
In the mirror the twins drew closer
|
| In "Arbus
Painting" we see
the still life motif again; an Appalachian quilt spread over a
chair, a Diane Arbus book on one side and a broken mirror on the
other and a cluster of wind chimes dangling in the valley of space
made by the chair's shape. The painting becomes a gestalt between
representation and compressed image creating yet a third event.
If you look at the picture, you see the Arbus book and reflected
image (both black and white) as related; below, the painting has
depth which is "eaten" as you go upward and meet with
the compressed elements which go flat and then take on form as
perhaps a white rat wearing a colorful kimono. In "Kiss"
the two lovers are hidden under a hill of paint strokes. Gestalt
is used in "Butterfly". The subject; a child crying
in the snow, becomes a butterfly (in the representation), which
is mirrored and being too terrible is transformed by the snow
which becomes a white bird with an egg inside pressing the butterfly
into the back of the picture, embracing it with its sharp beak.
"Person Hearing" shows a glassy eyed person with no
ears but with a background that springs like wings where the ears
should be. "Hesitations" is an earlier painting 'of'
the 'same' person. |
"Kiss"
oil 18" x 24" 1972 |
Kiss
When the mocking bird sang the hill began to vibrate
It shook until everything came loose;
houses, walkways, trees and shrubberies
(especially the bougainvilleas)
automobiles, lawn furniture, garden tools,
the seedy bars, boardwalk, umbrellas, beach balls
taco venders, tourists and policemen too.
Then the whole hill lifted into the air
and hung there for a moment
like a giant wind chime,
revealing
in the sudden under space
two lovers kissing
one solitary kiss. |
"Butterfly"
16" x 26 " oil 1976 |
Butterfly
`
Winter was relentless that year, not
the snowball kind
walkways were icy and narrow, the snow all crusted hard
and a woman was scolding her child, yanking him by the arm.
Our paths were destined to converge before they then would split.
I passed that boy so closely that as his wet cheeks turned upward
face and figure were identically proportioned.
They were two wings of a butterfly whose body was a crimson moan
that the snow glared up to swallow
then it softened into a pale pink bird carrying one message
For one moment
gash of anguish
orchid in the snow.
|
"Person Hearing"
12" x 14" oil
|
Person
Hearing
Your eyes became wells no longer grasping
mouth a delicate flower, Icelandic Poppy
cheeks and chin bloomed with a fresh surge of color
porcelain turned rose
neck and nose finally upright
(No more complaining, bragging on your past)
When I fell you truly noticed
and remembered something new...
and where your ears had been
great golden wings stretched out on either side. |
"Hesitations"
oil 10" x 15" 1973 |
Hesitations
Looking suspiciously at me
(Would I rob you? Steal your boots?)
So we began our life together...
And a basket stood between us
filled with fruit and common stuff;
cigarettes and other hesitations
five bananas pointing at me
two oranges facing out
and you beyond the basket
like no exotic fruit
came closer with your gaze.
Whether spirit or disembodied spirit
in time, our trepidation fell away.
|
| |
|
|
|
