(Trophy Shelf)
Anonymous
Found 02/2012, Goodwill (2222 and Lamar)

Nostalgia is a complex emotion: wistful, sad, gently joyful. It’s a connection to a past that is more distant every year, but perhaps the parts that we lose connection with increase the warmth of what remains.

(Trophy Shelf) is a powerful dose of that warmth. While not literally sepia-toned, the bold reds of the globe are softened somewhat, with some of the brown tones of ochre. The blues are murky and shadowed, streaked with a dry-brush gray. Overall the image is desaturated, creating a faint, dreamlike tone.

The “horse phase” is a transitional period, it flares up at age eight or so, filling a girls’ life with pony books, art, and endlessly available figurines. The (Trophy Shelf) horse poses in front of a grade school globe, alongside other pieces of bric-a-brac. Books haphazardly shelved suggest the disorder of a teenager’s room. Like a mirror reflecting a mirror, (Shelf) is a picture of a moment in time, showing a treasure from another such moment. The delicate transience of the image is as fragile as a soap bubble.