Two Storks 

Curator: Scott Fraser’s painting, "Two Storks," presents a striking visual arrangement. The goldfish crackers arched between the stork-shaped scissors create an intriguing interplay of the commonplace and the symbolic. What are your initial thoughts? Editor: It feels playful, yet…ominous? Like a strange fable. The red backdrop heightens that tension. These aren’t your typical happy-go-lucky storks delivering babies. There’s something about the precision of the scissors contrasted with the casual snack food that creates a kind of unsettling juxtaposition. Curator: The painting’s meticulous execution is crucial. Note the impasto technique, where the oil paint is applied so thickly it stands out from the surface. It lends texture and almost tactile quality to both the scissors and the edible 'storks'. Semiotically, the stork often symbolizes birth and new beginnings. The scissors could represent cutting, severing or even precision, creating a field of ambivalent meanings. Editor: Exactly. It’s like a commentary on control versus chance. And the fact that it's goldfish crackers… such an innocuous, mass-produced object… elevates it from a simple still life. Does the artist imply here how fragile or commercialised our 'new beginnings' are? And maybe these cutting instruments act like they are in the position of storks? Curator: It’s open to interpretation, isn't it? We might think about structuralism. The 'storks' face each other mirroring themselves. This reinforces a sense of formal balance, but it also points towards a potentially binary opposition within the narrative. Editor: Oh, I love that! Like two sides of a choice… or maybe the duality of creation and destruction? The composition draws you in with its starkness and makes you question these ordinary objects and their possible connections. The symbolism is not obvious; it simmers under the surface. Curator: Agreed. Fraser's manipulation of familiar objects compels a viewer to unpack deeper symbolic readings that exist just outside everyday perceptions. Editor: The artifice of painting highlights that the everyday world could, in fact, be quite odd. "Two Storks" provides much fodder for discussion. I could stare at it all day and discover new possibilities!