Blown Glass c. 1937

Alvin Shiren made this painting of a glass bowl on paper, and immediately I’m thinking about how painters see, how they use simple materials to create something illusory. The glass bowl sits alone, quietly there, its transparent form rendered with such care. I can imagine Shiren squinting his eyes, trying to capture the way light bends and shifts through the glass, how it reflects and refracts. It’s all about capturing the essence of transparency, the way light dances on the surface and defines its shape. I wonder, what was Shiren trying to convey? Perhaps he was simply captivated by the beauty of everyday objects. Or maybe he saw in this simple glass bowl a deeper metaphor for the fragile nature of existence, the way things can be both solid and ephemeral, present and absent, all at once. Painters are always in conversation. They are always looking and responding, and I feel part of that lineage. I try to be as open and receptive as Shiren clearly was.