Opening a Door to Yourself
Philip Koch, Truro Studio Door, oil on canvas,
48 x
36 inches, 1995
We find hints of ourselves when we feel moved by the art of others.
This was painted from a
smaller oil I made on location in the large painting room of Edward Hopper’s Truro,
MA studio.
I’ve been so fortunate over
the years to have been given unprecedented access to Hopper’s Truro studio.
When one is there you’re inevitably drawn to the windows and this doorway that
line the west side of the house. All offer this view of Cape Cod Bay. It’s
striking to see. But for me it also felt familiar as the view reminded me of my boyhood home on the shore of the open waters of Lake Ontario.
It’s funny what can cause you
shame when you’re seven or eight. There were two things boys in my neighborhood
had to do to be “one of the guys”- ride bikes and play basketball. I was lousy
at basketball. And after a hard fall on an early attempt to ride a bicycle try
as I might I couldn’t master keeping my balance on a two-wheeler. When basketball or biking were the group's activity, I’d slip away from my friends to our family’s beach on Lake Ontario and play by myself. Much
of the time I’d just stare out at the the Lake. On the water you could sail away to other places and maybe other times. It comforted me and suggested my present dilemmas weren’t permanent.
When people are grabbed by a
piece of art they don’t stay put. They’re propelled as if by a spring board
into fantasy and their old memories are stirred. This is all good- it means the
art is doing its work.