The show dates for Rob's History of Still Life Series have been confirmed. The show will open in Edmonton at the Douglas Udell Gallery on April 12, 2008 and at the Douglas Udell Gallery in Vancouver on April 19, 2008. The picture above is one of the pieces for the show - Homage to Dali. There will be a catalogue for the exhibition, as well. Rob has been wanting to photograph the paintings he's done so far, but since he does this outside to get the lighting he wants and it's been hovering around -30 C. for the last many days he's holding off.
The cold in Edmonton has been bone-crushingly brutal, but the snow has been beautiful. The wind made all these wonderful drifts and patterns in the field near our house. In the picture above the snow seems almost like a carved relief. If I squint at it long enough I begin to see a bird, a mythical creature, or a detail of an angel. And then the blue of the snow on a sunny day has to go down as one of those things I love. Which got me thinking about the Fanny Howe poem where she writes:
I won't be able to write from the grave
so let me tell you what I love:
oil, vinegar, salt, lettuce, brown bread, butter,
cheese and wine, a windy day, a fireplace,
the children nearby, poems and songs,
a friend sleeping in my bed -
and the short northern nights.
(Fanny Howe from her Selected Poems)
