The Reader

This painting almost didn't go in the House Art Show. At the last minute, I decided to go ahead and hang it. Apparently, it sparked some discussion. The eventual buyer was intrigued at this painting's ambiguity. Is the reader male or female? What kind of book is it?

For my part, it's one of those paintings that has been sitting in the studio for a year. Every instance at putting it on the easel to work on it, I would stare at it for a while, and then decide that it didn't need anything more. It was finished. But it's not like my other paintings.

What is art, AND should I be defining my art so early in the game? Honestly, here I am working at a craft for which there is no consensus of definition. Art is so subjective.


It's an 18" x 24" oil on linen. It lives with someone else now.