Still Life 1981

This is Mary Fedden’s “Still Life”, painted in 1987. It’s got that deceptive simplicity, you know? Like a child could do it, but a child didn't. Look at that intense red background. It’s not trying to be anything other than itself, a flat plane pushing everything forward. Then there are the objects, shapes really, huddled together in what might be a bowl, rendered with such basic, almost clumsy strokes. But it's precisely that awkwardness that gives the piece its charm. The whole thing has a kind of wobbly, imperfect quality. Notice how the black dots in the bowl aren’t quite centered, how the lines waver. It’s like Fedden is showing us the thinking behind the painting, the decisions being made in real-time. It reminds me a little of Fairfield Porter, that same embrace of the everyday, the slightly off-kilter, the beauty in the mundane. It's not about perfection; it's about the joy of seeing.