Beckett on the horizon . . . .

I've been reading Samuel Beckett's Molloy, and at the same time, working on a new group of paintings about the horizon. Here's what Beckett has to say on the subject. "And of my two eyes only one functioning more or less correctly, I misjudged the distance separating me from the other world, and often I stretched out my hand for what was far beyond my reach, and often I knocked against obstacles scarcely visible on the horizon." A painting, being a two-dimensional object, offers the illusion of access to another world, and at the same time sets up an impenetrable barrier. It's the mind's eye that travels far into the distance of a painting about the horizon. The hand's eye, though, can actually touch that distance and read its physicality as if it were Braille.

CMCA's Upcoming Auction

Art Makes a Difference - what could be truer? This is both title and raison d'etre of the Annual Benefit Auction at The Center for Maine Contemporary Art, held on Sunday, August 6, at the Owl's Head Transportation Museum two miles south of Rockland. The venue has changed to accommodate the increasing crowds who gather for this most prestigious and exciting event. Last year it was standing room only.

Scroll to the bottom of the artists' list to see my painting, Yellow Green with Horizon, a landscape meditation in oil on birch panel.

Maine Art Openings

It was well worth the drive from Belfast, through driving rain there and back, to see New York painter and photographer Claire Seidl's show at Icon Contemporary Art in Brunswick, Maine. But no matter, summer is Maine's high season for galleries and openings. If you find yourself here for the month or living here year-round, just follow the buzz. Other highlights are the August 4 Grand Opening of The Sink Room Gallery in Belfast (where yes, there is a sink in the room), and "The August Show" at Coppershed Gallery in Warren, Maine, just off Route 90. Reception for the Coppershed show is August 4. Upcoming and also not to be missed is Dennis Pinette's show at Caldbeck Gallery in Rockland, August 16.