Five Spot Still Life 1990

Ralph Goings made this photorealistic still life of everyday objects with paint sometime during his career. Imagine him there with his brushes, squinting, trying to capture the reflections on that shiny napkin holder. It’s like he's saying, "Hey, these mundane things? They're beautiful too." I think about Fairfield Porter and his interest in painting the everyday - the light in the kitchen, the view from the window. Like Porter, Goings saw poetry in the ordinary. I can almost smell the sugar from here! And what about that "5 Spot" branding? It reminds me that a painting can be a time capsule, capturing a specific moment and place. Artists are always looking, always noticing, and then inviting us to see the world with new eyes. It's pretty generous if you think about it.