Time and The Masterpiece Gallery

                 

Time and The Masterpiece Gallery

Like an expression to her reflection, the artist stands or sits before her canvas anticipating “The Begin”.   Whether near or far, a showcase is looming and she is anxious of it’s reception. She doesn’t always know what it is that she wishes to create nor does she know how long she has. But the artist continues to sit or stand before the canvas of her reflection  in the anticipation of her creation.   She will eventually place her initial strokes….sometimes carefully, consciously and guided and other times unconsciously haphazard.   Like the birth of a child, the first collection  will result in a showcase that may or may not be met with great fan fair or approval. She may enter to a  thunderous applause as many await to adore, love and encourage her. Shall she defy convention and expectations,  it is an entrance that may be met with laughter, ridicule, objection, or shame.  Or perhaps there shall be no opinion, no thought or fan fair at all as if she never existed…as if her existence were worthless, insignificant and forgettable.   But no matter it’s reception, “The Begin” will begin as too will “The End”.  

 Alongside the artist  is her subjective but constant companion: Time.  Each passing hour is filled with life defining moments shaping her beliefs, relationships,   personalities,  desires, preferences and every element in between that will ultimately shape her life or lives with each minute leading to the before and the after. Once a future that seemed so far away, the present takes form to soon  become the past.   For some, their time seems to rush along like the speed of light and  for another, it may trickle like a turtle moving slowly along a fast paced highway perhaps uninspired by it’s next destination. Others may hold on to the remnants of a better time, cling to them for dear life and refuse to move forward.   And though the perception of it’s pace may vary from one to another, the truth of time is that it waits for no one. No matter the perception, the pace of time is shared equally in a given moment by us all. Decades will come and go and like an expression to a canvas that took great increments of time for the artist to create, each will paint her place in a segment of time that the world has come to know as history. And like the perception of  history, one's story is subjective to the interpretation  of the listener and the teller.  But within any great creation, a crossroads occurs when the artist decides if the work is complete or simply a work in progress. The artist must ultimately make that decision…sometimes by choice and other times by force.



Sun Goddess III



For the one of choice, she assesses what she see’s and determines whether or not to proceed...physically or mentally. She may choose to take an intermission perhaps never to return. She may choose to push forward while uninspired…going through the motions of  "living to live" without living much at all.   Perhaps she is incapable of proceeding or limited by her lack of utensils, the perception of her utensils, and more often than not: the perception of her own canvas.   If she chooses, she will proceed as  best as she can with what she has before her... within her.  And just when she thinks she is finished or satisfied, she may return to add more, to erase, to cover, to modify and sometimes start  again or at least to the degree that she can... or as her utensils become more abundant, efficient or as the perception of her canvas and creation evolves. 



For the one who’s plight is by force, her decisions are quite simple. She will do as she’s told. She will alter her canvas to the pleasure or discretion of another.   She may also come to alter her mind to the convenience and comfort  of another.   She will use tools of alteration as she is instructed and  relinquish her power and creativity  to the hands of another in an existence chained to the  self deprecating doorsteps of approval resulting in a  canvas that will merely be a reflection of all but herself.  And ironically, after countless transformations,  her creation may still  be tossed away and trashed by the very one who encouraged her many alterations…the one she assumed to be her beloved beholder.   But whether by choice or by force, the artist desperately attempts to reach a point of satisfaction or resolution… to finish the great masterpiece to her liking… a liking …or his liking. 

Nevertheless, that inevitable final stroke will begin in an “End” that may or may not reflect her “Begin” .   For some, the cheering crowd that once filled the gallery is there no more and for others the once empty gallery is now loud and full.   And for another it is just as it was from the moment “The Begin” began. But for most perhaps, the gallery will be a direct reflection of the manner in which the life was lived and the intent of the artist's collection…the perception of the artist's canvas and reflection.   But no matter the fan fare, the praise or the rejection,  the artist hopes to create that masterpiece, a fulfillment and  completion to some degree whether it is to the approval of another, herself or a combination of the two blurred by deception, perception and  confusion.  She still hopes to create something worthy of that inevitable final stroke, to finish, to perfect it, to get it right before the final curtain call…before her time runs out…before the reception… before the beginning of the perceived “End”. But perhaps the notion of completion or perfection is subjective and the final stroke whether intended or not is always to be the final stroke. Perhaps the grand finale or masterpiece is merely a reflection to the depths of the artist herself and can be no more or less than what it is. All that she is will reveal itself if only to her herself in the dark as it is in truth.    Perhaps in time, we all find time to make time in our own time and all that is or was….is and was to be. Or not.