Bathroom Art

Well, I am sure that not everyone aspires to bathroom art but you know, we take it where we can get it. I just ordered my first framed photo from Mpix. The photograph is 12"x12" and overall framed is 16"x16". It is to be an apartment warming gift for my niece who despises the color orange.

She and her husband have been living in Kiev for probably fifteen years doing missionary work. Next month they are transferring to Prague and last week went apartment shopping. The apartment they selected has not only a wainscot of orange in the kitchen; it has huge rectangular orange tiles on the bathroom floor

She has decided that she will call it tangerine so that she will be able to live with it. I thought that maybe some bathroom art would make it more tolerable.

In addition to considerable religious symbolism which I see in this photograph it has a much stronger connection to the Woodard/Stockwell family as a result of its subject matter. Hopefully, for Micky and Dalese it will bring back a briefly shared moment of the past as it does for me.

A few days ago I stopped for gas at a service station next to the Cadillac Bar and Grill. I saw this shadow and had to take a photograph. When I saw the image on the computer I immediately thought of the rectangular orange tiles in Dalese's new bathroom.

Many years ago Micky and Dalese lived in Houston and my brother, Dale, who has never once in thirty four years driven to Houston to visit me would come to visit Dalese which at least gave us an opportunity to see each other. On one trip we all went to the zoo then afterwards I wanted to take them to the German Gardens for lunch but the German Gardens was closed so we went to the Cadillac Bar and Grill for Mexican food. As I am mentioning to Dalese, I will not speculate whether either of us have gone to a bar alone, however this was the first and only time that I ever went to a bar with my Baptist deacon brother. Unfortunately, while we were there, my brother pinched the waiter, yes, waiter not waitress, so I have never again been able to show my face at the Cadillac Bar and Grill and the food was so good.

This is a photograph of the back of the Cadillac Bar and Grill on a windowless side so I was not observed taking the photograph. I am afraid that same waiter may still be there.

What I originally saw in the image that give it, to me, a religious connotation was the severity of the rectangular shapes played against the diagonal shadow. I am frequently comparing man made shapes to natural shapes in my photographs. The man made shapes always come across more mechanical, stiff, ridged whereas the shapes of nature, works of nature aka works of God are freer, more liberated as is the shadow running diagonally across the wall in this photograph. The line of the shadow is much more exciting than the rectangular shapes.

The image is also divided into three horizontally as well as vertically and contains somewhat triangular shapes, both being associated with the trinity. A friend when asked if he saw any religious symbolism mentioned two elements that I had not seen. One being the cross shapes where the seam lines intersect in the top left and where the shadow intersects the seam line on the right. I might also mention at the foot of the two crosses is the color of red which could be considered symbolic of the blood shed on the cross. He also mentioned the song lyrics, "red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight…" something that I feel is very appropriate for a missionary family. And of course the shadow implies light also a religious symbol.

I am fully aware that in many ways this is the same as the Tex Ritter song about finding religious symbolism in a deck of 52 playing cards. Both ring true because we are by nature atuned to symbolism and the search for symbolism in many aspects of life and especially in art.

I have titled the photograph Convergence because there are numerous converging elements where lines intersect, colors and light and shadow come together. However the most important convergence has been removed from the image area; the convergence of the shadow line with the seam line on the bottom left. By faith it can be accepted that the two do converge, but it cannot physically be proven from within the framework of the image, leaving it to our speculation.

I like the image very much even without consideration of the somewhat esoteric symbolism. Even though my niece does not like the color orange, I hope she may enjoy it also. BTW who cannot like orange. It is the combination of sunshine and passion I can't think of a better way to make a color. It always makes me think of Vashel Lindsey's poem, The Jazz of This Hotel.

As far as new photography, just to give you a hint of the way my day has gone. Janet came into the room a couple hours ago and I told if I could find her something to wear we would drive over to McDonalds for a sausage and egg biscuit. I went to get dressed, looked at the clock and it was after 4:30pm. We had a bowl of soup instead.

Afterwards I took one photograph of a white egg in an egg shaped brass box. I titled it Growing Pains since the egg was fatter than the interior of the box. It has really been a pretty good day when I think about it. LOL