(1998-present; pastel, ink on paper; acrylic on canvas)
copyright © 1986-2007 arlene dubo, all rights reserved
| arlene dubo, artist, fine art, modern art, paintings | |
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The Red Chair
(1998-present; pastel, ink on paper; acrylic on canvas) |
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| I noticed it one day in the window of a small antique shop. I could see it only for a few seconds, from the window of the bus, on my way to work each morning. At first, it was so cluttered by picture frames and old nic-nacs piled up on it that I couldn’t even see what it really looked like. Each day I prepared for the moment the bus would pass in front of the shop. I would have to stop time and motion for as long as I could stare at the chair. I’d memorize its every curve, inch by inch, then I’d quickly sketch it out on paper, one day at a time, for weeks, months. I finally gave in and made my claim on the chair at the shopkeeper’s doorstep. I continued to adore my prize in the window for ten months, comfortable in the belief that I would soon have enough money to buy it. It was within reason but not meant to be. Betrayed by the shopkeeper and out-bid by a casual shopper, I lost the chair of my dreams in the space of a holiday weekend. I had two life-size paintings of it already completed, each one the sum of the parts I had burned in my memory. I had researched it, enquired about it, knew it as a Victorian fainting couch. It was my new obsession. The smooth red velvet material, the cool dark wood, the fullness of the pleats, and the shape of the bench that could hug the body like a spoon. This was a woman’s chair. For when she could no longer endure convention and could steal some much-needed affection. Or, a convenient and seductive lieu for lovers. | |
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copyright © 1986-2007 arlene dubo, all rights reserved |
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