Sparkling Or Still 

Dan Graziano made "Sparkling Or Still," with oil on panel. It's a scene of everyday life, but what does it say about the moment in which it was painted, and perhaps the moments like it today? The viewer stands behind a waiter, and can see two tables with customers, all cropped and anonymous. We get a sense of intimacy, but also distance. The United States, like many countries, has a complex history of labor, class, and race that informs the kind of image that Graziano has made. The artist asks us to consider the relationships among the people in the painting, and to think about the restaurant as a social institution. Who is being served and who is serving? What are the politics of that relationship? A social and institutional historical approach can help us to understand the imagery that makes up our world, from paintings to advertisements.