Friday, September 18, 2009

What's in a word?

locked
secured
obstructed
confined
restricted
contained
imprisoned
enclosed
impeded
____________
gate


I've written previously about naming/titling artwork. Sometimes the right title comes to you immediately and other times you may labour over it for days. Too many choices is just as bad as having few ideas. That was the case with this painting which is part of the Reading a Garden Series currently in exhibition at Cube Gallery. It is one of my favourites in the series and no name was good enough for it. I went through the list above and finally settled on Gate. It says it all.

On my summer vacation I took this shot in Copenhagen and it has all the same connotations as Gate. I especially like the door knob on this one. You could switch it up and call it Access.

9 comments:

Unknown said...

Thanks for sharing your process of how you create a title for your work. It can be difficult to find just the right word/term - one I often struggle with. I know someone who actually creates the title first and then paints to suit it.

Miki Willa said...

Your work continues to amaze me. I loved the photos of the wall paper, and this painting is quite wonderful.
Thanks for the great information you left on my blog. It is very helpful.

layers said...

I like this current series about 'contained, locked' and so on--- and I of course agree with you about making lists of words for titles. It helps one to stay within the series as well.

jennifer woodburn said...

Gorgeous piece. Love the composition.

M said...

Thanks all for the comments. I'm just getting around to posting some close-ups of work in the exhibition. Every piece has layers of information both concretely and symbolically. I look forward to sharing more.

Poetic Artist said...

I think sometimes we all have the problem of a title. And then there are times we just know. I love this one.

HeartFire said...

Margaret, congrats on your Cube showing, very nice. I like the two you highlighted here. I too think the naming is so important and sometimes I labor over it, other times it seems to pop right out.
Thanks for your perspective on it, and also your next posting about using photos. That's inspiring, I've tried a few photo/paintings and want to do more of them, find it challenging.

Randall David Tipton said...

Lot`s of symbolism in this one, it`s just beautiful as well.

ArtPropelled said...

I love this piece.... It speaks to me. The title is simple yet has many connotations.