Transforming

‘Transforming’ written by Della Gooden

Just now I looked up and gazed out of the window to see a pretty picture. The plants in pots, the garden bench, the table and chairs and a dirty cup that’s been there all winter. A beautifully composed bright scene, covered in a lovely thick mantle of snow that goes right up to the wall at the end of the garden, that hides the church.

If I sit here until it gets dark, the window’s surface will transform. The garden, still partly visible in the gloom, will become a rather drab variant. At some point I will switch on the light, and in that instant, a hushed ghostly interior will appear there too; my furniture and myself included. Two places co-existing. If I were more prone to moments of naïve wonder I might think, ‘What unreal world is this?’ ‘To what special no-where place, have I travelled?’

We share our existence with endless bodies and bearings, shapes, ‘makes’, beings and non-beings. They can mess with our lives; mob together, confront, and snub us. But they let us use their surfaces and sometimes we even get to see their inner workings… occasionally they tenderly yield; give you everything they have. It’s an absolute marvel that on arriving home, and once inside the front door, the coat peg offers itself up. There it is… gifted on the wall. Granted, it has modest ambitions for itself but for me, it is perfectly positioned and patiently waiting every time.

When I reach the living room I look up and see a favourite painting… ‘What coat peg?’.

‘Transforming’ by Della Gooden

One of 4 introductory essays for the exhibition ‘Transforming Surfaces’. Commissioned by the curator Richard Bell and participating artist GR Thomson. ‘Transforming Surfaces’ was published by Arthouse1 Gallery, London

‘Transforming Surfaces’ the publication – ISBN: 9781789260892
(published by Arthouse1 London, 2018)