The 20th Century Room
"La Ramasseur"
2003, Acrylic on Canvas, 22" x 23"If I've spelled this right, it means "gatherer." In one of the walled villages below the Dordogne a very young girl was kneeling at the edge of the sidewalk, selecting and collecting a set of small rocks. This image of careful evaluation struck me as a simple metaphor for something like thought or intention itself. I based this painting on a photo I took of the little girl, and more than that, on an ink sketch I did a few days afterwards. Probably it was the homework I'd done in thinking about this pose and position that allowed my technique here to be so immediate. Along the way that jeune fille became a character much more austere and mythic.
