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The idea behind painting at a coffee shop is to be around people while you work. You
think that if they are around that maybe there is some connection between you and
them. Unfortunately, in order to do the work, you must block everything out. So,
although there are people coming and going all around you, there is a wall separating
the two. Of course one can say that since a lot of the others are there to do their
own work also, there is a connection in purpose. But if your job is to look at them,
it places you at a remove because it is neither your own business nor a way to
participate in theirs. One way to think about it is to concentrate on things
peripheral to their presence. To look at the way the light constantly changes as the
day goes on, to decide whether to describe in more or less detail. In the end though,
it is you and them, and that goes on, to decide whether to describe in more or less
detail. In the end though, it is you and them, and that unbridgeable gap. You can
invent stories or speculate about the relationships between the, or think that they
are on a stage performing for your benefit. There is no sense in trying to give one
self a place in their drama because to do so would violate the terms of the
relationship.
As you sit there and get progressively more and more jumpy from all the caffeine, you
wonder if this is any different from staying at home. There must be difference
because otherwise there would be no impulse to try it. Maybe there is something that
ties you to themn. It might be only imaginarey but that possibility is what keeps one
going. The only real connection is if someone who was there sees the work displayed
somewhere and recognizes the place and the time depicted. It may trigger a memory or
a thought. That binds them with the work, but not with you, yet that is probably as
close as you can hope to get. So one is stuck with the conclusion that to do the work
is to set oneself apart.
Dmitry Samarov,
"Jinx #15"
Dmitry Samarov,
"Jinx #11"
Dmitry Samarov,
"Jinx #18"
Dmitry Samarov,
"Jinx #6"
Dmitry Samarov,
"Jinx #7"
Dmitry Samarov,
"Jinx #3" Go to the Dean's Gallery home page
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