Altar Chimes c. 1936

David P. Willoughby made this watercolor and graphite rendering of "Altar Chimes." I can almost hear them—the making of a painting is like that, a kind of synesthesia. The way the chimes' stands are drawn, you can feel the presence of the person who conceived them. The one on the left makes me think of Duchamp’s Bicycle Wheel, or maybe even a Buddhist prayer wheel. Those different shades of green, for instance, are like the different tones or registers you can get with a single colour—it's very meditative, as if you could turn this wheel forever and it would take you somewhere else. I wonder what Willoughby was thinking when he made it. Was this an architectural sketch for a real thing? Or a fantasy? Painting is so much about being both present and somewhere else at the same time.