"Titled"; 60" x 84"; oil & collage on canvas
Every time I go into my local pet store to buy food for my dog, someone invariably comments on how handsome and friendly he is. I usually say I don’t know which came first, his name, Romeo, or his personality. As far as I am concerned, he’s always been just who he is, Romeo, my dog.
An artist friend recently said a friend of hers kept telling her she didn’t understand her (abstract) painting. Then because my friend was exhibiting the painting in a show, she gave it a title, something non-consequential, equally abstract. When her friend saw this same painting exhibited on the wall with a name, she said “Oh, now I understand.”
Apparently we all need names, labels. What I enjoy about abstract painting is its lack of need for titles, labels. It is the viewer who seems to need the title.