A_map_of_New_England,_being_the_first_that_ever_was_here_cut_..._places_(2675732378).jpg
Commentary Robert Whitcomb Commentary Robert Whitcomb

Secrets of roadside chairs

superior  

"Superior Comfort, ''by MARIE CRAIG, in her "Around the Curve'' show - a series of photographs of chairs left by the side of the road. It will run May 14-June 7 at Fountain Street Fine Art, Framingham.

She says: "When it hits the curb, a chair is at a turning point. Part detective story, part social history, each chair holds many secrets. The chair also serves as a metaphor for all of the things we admit into our homes, and tells the story of consumption and disposability.''

For some reason, this reminds me of my mother's irritating habit of leaving old furniture,  some of it Victorian and, we learned later,  to become quite valuable, on the side of the road to be picked up by junk collectors in our semi-rural, seaside neighborhood.

I remember one day seeing a collie curled up very comfortably in the sun on one of the old sofas that my feckless mother had left at the curb.

Few if anyone in our town leashed their dogs, who often attacked people -- especially postmen -- and  killed chickens on the farm across the street. That led to a potentially dangerous encounter between my father and the infuriated gentleman farmer, Mr. Dean, after our vicious (to  other animals, including  human strangers) Rhodesian Ridgeback  mix raided the coop.

They both had guns, and I think that Mr. Dean was close to using his -- on our dog and my father.

(Come to think of it, pretty much everyone in our neighborhood had guns -- usually 22's and shotguns. There were also quite a few service revolvers around.)

-- Robert Whitcomb

Read More
Commentary Robert Whitcomb Commentary Robert Whitcomb

Organic and structural

 

reintegrate
"Reintegration'' by Leslie Zelamsky, in the "Common Thread'' show, through May 10, at Fountain Street Fine Art, Framingham.

In her sculptures, she  uses common building materials to create forms that are both organic and structural.

 

Read More
Commentary Robert Whitcomb Commentary Robert Whitcomb

Flying through Framingham

fountain

 

This  sculpture, '"Gullet'' (cast iron rings, chicken wire, cheesecloth and paper), is a collaborative piece by Carrie Childs Antonini, Denise Driscoll and Sara Fine-Wilson. It's in the  "Multiplicity Members Group Show'' through Dec. 15 at Fountain Street Fine Art, Framingham, Mass.

 

It

 

Read More
Commentary Robert Whitcomb Commentary Robert Whitcomb

Reconstructing history

finewilson  

Sculpture  by SARA FINE-WILSON in her part of the "Gaze and Extension'' show Fountain Street Fine Art,  Framingham, through Nov. 2. Her art, says the gallery, explores breaking down things and "then rebuilding them multiple times as a way to create history in visual form.''

Read More
art, Commentary Robert Whitcomb art, Commentary Robert Whitcomb

Mirror of memories

clinton "Woodland Water Flood 2'' (acrylic on canvas), by CHERYL CLINTON, at Fountain Street Fine Art, Framingham, Mass.

She says her work is a "developing story about memory, reflection and the passage of time.''

 

Read More
oped Robert Whitcomb oped Robert Whitcomb

Memento mori, et al.

wessman "Enduring Ephemera Series: Installation #2''  (detail, mixed media, plant/animal material, hair), by ERICA WESSMANN, in her "Memento'' show at Fountain Street Fine Art, Framingham, Mass., through March 30.

Read More
oped Robert Whitcomb oped Robert Whitcomb

Return to old reading

  OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

"Well Read'' (photo archival print mounted on board and overlaminated), by BOB HESSE, showing at Fountain Street Fine Art, Framingham, Mass.

I have had a little free time lately and have rediscovered the joys of  reading musty old books left on the bedside tables of friends' houses and apartments, in book-sale rooms in libraries and  even on the street. While I can still appreciate  the likes of The Magic Mountain and many other long  literary masterpieces (if reminded to do so), I confess that a well-wrought middle-brow novel (probably about "intelligent people'' with domestic conflicts in the suburbs or parts of Manhattan) with enough heft to get through a three-hour flight or part of a sleepless night will suffice.

As you get older, time circles back on you and you want to reread what you read in long summer weekends more than  half a century before, interrupting your reading every few minutes to look at the puffy clouds in a blue sky and the lush greenery below your window while smelling  the rich mixed aromas  of  lawn-mower  gasoline and wet  cut grass. From time to time, there's the shriek of a kid in the background, usually indicating happiness but sometimes a minor injury, usually inflicted by a sadistic child.At my rate, I'll be rereading the Doctor Doolittle series in no time, after returning to  C.S. Forester's naval novels, set during the ever-popular (among readers of history and fiction) Napoleonic wars.

Meanwhile, our great throw-out of old, asthma-inducing paperbacks stashed in the cellar continues. No one will read any of them again.

Comment via rwhitcomb51@gmail.com

Read More