About nothing

Marc Trujillo, 14048 Ventura Boulevard

Only the painter is entitled to look at everything without being obliged to appraise what he sees...

... It is as if in the painter's calling there were some urgency above all other claims on him. Strong or frail in life, he is incontestably sovereign in his own rumination of the world. With no other technique than what his eyes and hands discover in seeing and painting, he persists in drawing from this world, with its din of history's glories and scandals, canvas which will hardly add to the angers or the hopes of man-- and noone complains...
Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Eye and Mind

Through the magic of Facebook, I have been able to follow the work of some of my fellow Yale MFA graduates, and a few weeks ago went to see Marc Trujillo's work at Hirschl and Adler.

Marc paints spaces in our built environment most of us hurry through as quickly as possible: food courts, dollar stores, drive thru windows. Unlike the rest of us, he takes his time in these spaces, observing every nuance of light and color, finding the sublime within the most banal interstices of daily life. This painting, in particular, took my breath away. It reminded me of what painting is all about: everything and nothing. The emptiness at the center, the exit aisle, pulsates with a sense of presence. But noone is there. Only the gaze of the painter fills this empty space, and we are invited to join him there.

I always question my own decision to pursue painting. I love the feel of oil on canvas, the colors and textures which seem unobtainable by any other means. Yet its such a hopelessly anachronistic pursuit. Exiting from the local Imax theater after seeing Avatar this weekend, I was kicking myself that I hadn't followed my early interest in computer graphics instead. I admire Marc Trujillo's steadfast committment to the venerable tradition of oil painting, and his ability to mold this tradition to his own vision.

I'd been reading the phenomenological philosopher, Merleau-Ponty, whose words came to mind looking at 14048 Ventura Boulevard:

...Painting awakens and carries to its highest pitch a delirium which is vision itself, for to see is to have at a distance; painting spreads this strange possession to all aspects of Being, which must in some fashion become visible in order to enter into the work of art.
Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Eye and Mind

The ability of painting to capture the "delirium which is vision itself" apart from any other social, ethical, political, moral or pedagogical agenda, is what keeps me coming back for more, both as a viewer and practicioner. Thanks for the reminder, Marc!