Still

Susan Jane Walp, Blueberries in Black Etruscan Cup with Xerox, Knife, Cork and Two Bricks, 2006

Stillness. Easy to overlook. In fact, I usually pass right on by without a thought. Some could call them boring, but a still life is a meditation whispering a secret. A trade secret to most of the all time greats.

Meditation, like this painting, offers keys and hinges. Quiets the banging on our obstacle doors.  A key, unlocking. A hinge-supported swinging. I hold this idea that if I am still, I can find the key and fashion a hinge that swings my problemdoor open.

The key is usually an observation, finding the root cause, the heart of the matter. If I take the time to un-ego myself enough to finally see it.  The hinge is working with the structures of things, of organizations, of people. Finding out how they swing.

The structure of this still life reveals a beautiful hinge. A circular center holds roundripe berries. Forms a circular mass filling a cup of layered circles. In motion but still — the hinge around which all the other shapes turn.  A series of squares radiate out, overlapping. Each piece receiving motion from its texture or position. Your eye follows the outside objects, starting at the knife,  swinging around to the cork to the orange brick back and around to the knife. A slow revolution.

This work is more than structure, it is also a speaking key. Speaking not of berries or of brick, but of foundness. Of deeply touching the those things around you.  A tender word embraced, a heartfelt thanks given, time to understand offered. Finding the keys at your fingertips.