[“We stand round blankly as walls.” – Sylvia Plath] Someone hangs a picture on me. From where I am, behind it, I can’t see what it’s a picture of, can’t see what the museum visitors are staring at, frowning at, consulting their guidebooks, dismissing with a shrug. It’s driving me crazy. [Click ‘Random Post’ above – be astonished] … [Read more...]
“What the Wall Thinks About the Picture” / Memorable Fancies #1698
8 December, 2016 by Leave a Comment
“Portraits” / Memorable Fancies #1106
6 February, 2015 by Leave a Comment
In our new portrait gallery, we’ve discovered that the paintings need people. Visitors are recruited to stand in front of each piece for a certain length of time, that the oils do not despair and fade. Even so small a thing as an occasional nod may brighten a painting’s hue for a few moments, or so it’s been reported. There’s a sign above the door: “I am not here for your amusement; you are here for mine.” – after Marina Warner <END> Buy it on Amazon: For Anacreon, … [Read more...]
for Mark Tobey (American painter, 1890-1976) / Memorable Fancies #1092
23 January, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Some of us climbed / down from our ivory tower / he said / touching high white hair / hand over hand / Took one look / he said / and climbed back up / again <END> … [Read more...]
“The Piper” / Memorable Fancies #183
7 December, 2012 by Leave a Comment
[“What happens when a new work of art is created is something that happens simultaneously to all the works of art which preceded it.” – Eliot] I saw that the New Masters Gallery was resplendent with freshly painted ceilings and newly washed windows. Droplights had been dusted for the first time in years. All this was in preparation for the opening of recent oils by Nicholas Hamelin, a hitherto unknown artist, “whose art is a new voice in the world of art,” as the publicity postcards ineptly … [Read more...]
“Foreground” / A Memorable Fancy #058
26 July, 2012 by Leave a Comment
The piece is incomplete, the one Harold and Irene paid the famous artist to paint. It leans against a wall of their home, three faceless figures against the sea. After a month, with Irene not at home, Harold phones the artist, who says “get someone else to finish it – I’ve gone on to other things now.” In the background, a sound of surf and Irene’s delighted voice; in the foreground, a silence. … [Read more...]
Memorable Fancies 