Jean Sabatine, Christmas, Martins Creek, Pennsylvania Possibly 1983 - 1985

Larry Fink captured “Jean Sabatine, Christmas, Martins Creek, Pennsylvania” with a camera – a very different tool to my brushes! I wonder, did Fink plan this shot or did he catch it spontaneously? It feels like a real moment, a Christmas party perhaps. There's Jean herself, pulling a face, and there's a patterned wallpaper that feels like it’s closing in. And what’s that she’s holding? It’s all a bit close-up and confrontational. I bet Fink was thinking about all this, the intimacy and the slight awkwardness of it all, trying to catch life as it happens. Like a painter, Fink has a fascination with the grit and grain of the world. And like painting, photography is also about choices, framing and capturing light – deciding what to show and what to leave out. Artists are always responding to each other, even across different mediums, sparking off new ideas. Ultimately, it’s about expression, trying to show something real. We don’t have to get it ‘right’ every time. It’s okay to leave space for more than one way of seeing.