Tom Sastry,  poet of English and Indian ancestry, born 1974

Before entering, 2017

 

 

 

Try to see clearly what it is you love.

 

 

 

Remember Thine Eyes, 2014. 

Frank Bowling, British born 1934 Guyana. Photo from the website of the Tate, London

 

 

 

Whatever you love, be honest.

 

If it is your family, more than the world

do not be ashamed.

 

If it is your cat

 

 

 

 

The Fall of Man, 1616, oil on canvas.

Hendrik Golzius, 1568-1617; Dutch.  National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

 

 

 

or the smother of the morning bed 

 

 

 

 

Blind Faith, oil on canvas, 2002. 

Yvonne Muinde, born Kenya, active Canada, unknown birthdate.  Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia

 

 

 

or a certain goal scored at Wembley in the 1970s
have no regrets.

Be proud of your love.

 

Bring it to mind. Bring it to the front
ahead of all other concerns.

It is hard to do but not impossible.

Hold it, as literally as you can, in your hands.

 

 

 

Untitled, 1983, bronze.

 Marisa Merz, Italian, 1926-2019.  Loaned to the Philadelphia Art Museum by a private collection in memoriam in 2019

 

 

 

 

It is touching you. Touch it back.

 

 

 

 

Putney Winter Heart #8 (Skier), 1971-72; oil on canvas with shoes, mittens, rocks, glove, shirt, nail, rope and tin foil collage

  Jim Dine, American born 1935.  Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington.

 

The artist recalls the time he spent in Putney, Vermont

 

 

 

Say goodbye.

You need to get it out of the country.

You need to preserve it.

 

 

 

 

‘Fabergé egg’ of preserved vegetal materials.  Philadelphia Flower Show, March 2014

 

 

‘Necklace’ of preserved vegetal matter, Philadelphia Flower Show, 2011

 

 

 

Write it, draw it, pickle it, cure it,
freeze it, hide it,

 

 

 

 

ShadowLife 016, April 4, 2013 image file, 2018 print; pigment print. 

David Lebe, American born 1948, Philadelphia Art Museum

 

 

                                         bury it,
put it in a bottle,

tell it to a friend,

carry it in the hollow sole of an old shoe
to wherever it will be safe.

 

 

 

 

A Pair of Boots, 1887, oil on canvas. 

Vincent Van Gogh, 1853-1890, Dutch.  Baltimore Art Museum

 

 

 

And when hope has bolted
into the deepest cave of your belly

 

 

 

 

Sound of Silence, 1978, lithograph.

Charles White, 1918-1979, American. Art Institute of Chicago on loan to a MOMA, NY retrospective in 2018 

 

 

hiding from all the temporary things,

 

 

 

The Sorrowing Soul Between Doubt and Faith, 1899, oil on canvas. 

Elihu Vedder, 1836-1923, American.  Baltimore Art Museum

 

 

 

the memory of your love will have a form

 

 

 

 

Seen from a Wall in the Memory 1960, bronze. 

Mario Negri, 1916-1987, Italian.  Baltimore Museum of Art

 

 

 

and you can summon it –  

 

 

 

 

 Je t’aime no. VIII, oil on linen, 1957. 

Robert Motherwell, 1915-1991, American.  Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington

 

 

 

when its lightness feels like an insult,

 

 

 

 

Untitled, 1958, silver gelatin print,

Cecilia Porras, 1920-1971, Colombian; and Enrique Grau, 1920-2004, Colombian

Loaned by the Fundación Enrique Grau Araujo, Bogotá; Fundación Casa Grau to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY in 2021/22

 

Experimental photograph in the coastal landscape near Cartagena featuring Cecilia Porras. 

This was part of experimental work done following a coup d’etat in Colombia.  In this, the bodies and faces of women were  often masked or camouflaged.

 

 

 

when you need it most.