Red Boat, Brigus Wharf


                                  Red Boat, Brigus Wharf, oil on canvas, 38" x 54", Steven Rhude


In our times, I think there is beauty and relevance to the still image. If one is interested in composing a place, (as I am), then the realization comes to mind that there is no defining moment that captures an essential truth about the place that inspired it. Our experience of place is fluid, painting frames it as something still, and so conjecture about it naturally leads us to participate in a more probing narrative. This painting is a recollection of the Brigus wharf, yet, judging from the number of ordinary man made objects in the painting (a boat, garbage cans, table, paint roller, rags, paint brush, etc), it may also suggest a direction towards an autonomous still life; a random arrangement placed in the context of the sea and related fishing industry. The artist like the viewer, is inside and outside the scene. He paints a boat that is being painted by someone else. The opening to the wharf and distant sea is another painting within the painting, another compositional reason to be inside and outside the picture.
 
Steven Rhude, Wolfville, NS 
 

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