Sunday, January 10, 2010

Worth the Week: Pear Art

I am very pleased that Porcelain is continuing on with our weekend tradition by discovering and refining her own Weekend Diptychs. For me, the 6 & 7 Project had started to feel like a chore: do two loads of laundry, buy kitty litter, take a %&@! photo... I realize what I was missing with the 6/7's was the reason.

To give my photos more purpose, I'm going to focus (or
unfocus, if the image begs for artful blur) on one. Each week, I will take AND write about one photograph that means something to me. Even the images that require little language will still mean seven days of observation and thought. Let's see if all of them can't be Worth the Week.


I took this photo on Friday at Chicago Art Department. This small piece, by Susan Murtaugh, was part of the international gallery show called iPhone Therefore iArt.

Pear-depicting art always charms me. It may not always be good (although I do rather like this one) but I never fail to linger and examine. It's not the voluptuous shape of the fruit that pulls me in but rather the simple fact that it's pears up there - right there - look!


You see, with the IRL last name of Bartlett, pear art has a familial place in my heart and on my walls. In fact, each member of my family has at least one piece of pear art, usually gifted by another in the family. Whether it's one solid pear or a tilted and jumbled pile of 'em, seeing this fruit in art makes me remember the tree I came from, to whose shade I can always return.

2 comments:

Mama Pear said...

That's nice (the art and the words)...

Anonymous said...

I love pears. My girls have called me "the weird pear lady..."
(among other things...)

Anyway. the photo of the orange pear art is awesome! (Wish I could have it..sigh) I have quite an eclectic pear collection and here's the only reason(s) I can figure out why:

1. Elvis Costello's song, "Sweet Pear" (the lyrics will spill the beans...)

2. Pears remind me of human beings... NOT simply because of their shape and the obvious female, big-arse comparison...no. But rather, their tenderness. So easily bruised. They seem very, very vulnerable.

Your work is special. Thanks for sharing it with the world.

Helen