Friday, February 17, 2012

No Comment

The Neighborhood, 2011

Three tiny paintings sit in a first floor window on Vallejo Street. The canvases look to be about 3 x 3 inches. Each canvas rests on its own small easel. The paintings appear to be the work of a young child. I wonder who decided the paintings should face the street. The mother, the father, the artist? It was a good decision. The paintings made me smile.

I wanted to thank the artist, but this isn't how it typically works with painting, or poetry, or novels -- so many things. We visit museums and galleries, linger over chapbooks, and feel our perspectives shift while reading a well-written novel.

Most of these creators will never know how they have moved us. There is no comments section beneath their work. And perhaps this is for the best.

14 comments:

  1. this little place says "home" in so many ways

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  2. Yes, the comment box is so compelling, and needlessly so. A very good perspective on the matter. This comment is superfluous.

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  3. Mise, Contextually, your comment is not superfluous at all. Comments are the cheese and I am the rat.

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  4. I like the thought of the paintings facing the street, and am imagining the little conversations that could have taken place between artist and parent on where best to place them...such a lovely visual you have given me - thank you. Have a wonderful weekend. Annie x

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  5. imagine if there were comment boxes for every novel and every piece of art. i think that could be kind of amazing--democratic and also for the populace somehow? i imagine how it might change things...such interesting thinking.

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  6. One of my
    Favorite posts ever.
    I do this often, minus the small
    Easels... Artwork taped outward on the windows. I don't usually ask if it's okay, I just do it- and thankfully no one protests-
    They always smile walking up the porch and coming home.

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  7. I'm so taken with what you've written. The fact of the little artworks and that you noticed. Enjoy the cheese.

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  8. Beauty and art are everywhere around us, we just have to look and "see". This post has made me smile.

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  9. An interesting thought...
    Though don't you think that many would want to know that they have moved us? Seems like something true to each of us whether we produce art, words, or something as simple as a meal prepared with love...

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