Page 7 - Art First: Joni Brenner: At the Still Point

At the Still Point

Elizabeth Burroughs

At the still point of the turning world. Neither flesh nor fleshless;
Neither from nor towards; at the still point, there the dance is,
But neither arrest nor movement. And do not call it fixity,
Where past and future are gathered. Neither movement from nor
towards,
Neither ascent nor decline. Except for the point, the still point,
There would be no dance, and there is only the dance.
TS Eliot, Burnt Norton

The new body of works is arrayed about Brenner’s studio, a convo-
cation of presences, their gazes directed silently towards us. This
COVER
Brow 2015 group of portaits of Scott Hazelhurst, Brenner’s husband, have the
PAGES 1 emotional consonance and intensity of a sonnet cycle. Shaped
Cranio 2015 (detail)
within a strict set of parameters – the same sitter, similar modest
PAGES 2–3 dimensions, a limited range of bony off-whites, and almost without
Heart of light 2015 (detail)
exception, the same frontal view – these presences are both elo-
LEFT
Os 2015 (detail) quent and silent.

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