Finis Coronat Opus 1995

Charles Bell made this painting of a pinball machine, with oil paint, probably sometime in the late 20th century. Look at the surface, all those bright colours and hard edges. I imagine him hunched over a canvas, carefully applying the paint. I think he must have wanted to capture the feeling of playing pinball, the thrill of the flashing lights and clanging bells. The perspective is kind of weird, like you're both above and inside the machine at the same time. There's a figure at the bottom, like some barbarian queen, surrounded by targets and bonuses. The way he's rendered those lights, they almost seem to glow. It's like he's inviting us to step into the game, to lose ourselves in the chaos and excitement. The title, "Finis Coronat Opus", implies that the end crowns the work. It makes me think of how all painting is a game, of sorts, with its own rules and goals and that painting can be an end in itself.