The Box 2002

Bo Bartlett made "The Box" with paint and canvas in an unspecified year. Looking at the two figures, a girl and a boy sitting on a couch, I wonder if they are about to go out. They are very formal, almost stiff. The atmosphere of the painting feels heavy with an almost melancholic or somber mood. It reminds me of the stillness you find in the paintings of Edward Hopper, although maybe more sentimental. The scene seems suspended in time. I imagine Bartlett thinking about how to freeze that moment in time; how can painting capture a single moment but also suggest a whole story? I can feel the weight of the box in the center of the painting, like an anchor. Maybe the box is a metaphor for something that connects the past, present, and future. I wonder, what’s inside the box and why is it important? I think that the artist is saying something about memory, identity, and the stories we carry with us.