Tea for One
52.75 x 62 inches (133.98 x 157.48 cm) (Stretched)
Enamel on canvas.
Tea for One is the first of a trilogy, a visual and emotional journey through transformation. The two key elements in the painting symbolize pivotal moments for the subject, who stands at a crossroads. Confronting their reflection, they embark on a profound internal dialogue—a reckoning with the glorious past and a tentative step toward the untapped potential of the future.
The painting’s flawless black background gleams like a polished mirror, its surface both infinite and impenetrable. It reflects the depth of introspection that emerges from isolation, a state where silence magnifies thought and emotion. Against this boundless darkness, two luminous white figures emerge. Raised and textured, they stand in stark contrast to the smooth background, their embossed quality adding a tactile dimension that invites closer inspection. Their purity and symmetry speak of beginnings—not yet solid, but full of promise. These forms capture the fragile but vital process of reconnection, bridging the self that once thrived in the world with the self that has retreated into seclusion.
“A minute seems like a lifetime… when I feel this way,” (Led Zeppelin) whispers the essence of the piece, encapsulating the aching suspension of the subject’s internal state. Time becomes elastic, its passing paradoxical—both fleeting and infinite. This suspended moment demands reckoning, where the figure confronts the paradox of longing: the desire to reclaim past triumphs while simultaneously yearning for a future yet undefined.
The glossy black backdrop serves as both anchor and void, grounding the viewer in the stark duality of isolation and connection. It invites us inward, into a space where we might confront our own moments of withdrawal and return. The surface, at once opaque and reflective, draws out the tension between memory and potential, asking us to linger in the liminal space where transformation begins.
Within this narrative, the two raised white figures are not merely symbolic; they are thresholds—bridges to a deeper connection. They embody the courage required to reconcile the past with the promise of a new future. As the subject takes their first steps toward reconnection, the painting becomes a meditation on renewal. It reminds us that the act of returning is not about reclaiming what was, but about rediscovering oneself in the process.
As the first chapter in a trilogy, Tea for One explores themes of solitude, reflection, and the inevitability of change. Through its stark contrasts and quiet complexity, the painting invites us to reflect on our own moments of transformation, where the past and future meet. What does it mean to step into a new chapter, not as who we once were, but as who we are becoming?
Completed in the blooming spring of 2014 at the artist's studio in Chelsea, New York.