White Painting,
Painted by Robert Rauschenberg (1925-2008),
Painted in 1951
Latex house paint applied with a roller and brush on canvas, two panels
© Museum of Modern Art, New York
White Painting,
Painted by Robert Rauschenberg (1925-2008),
Painted in 1951
Latex house paint applied with a roller and brush on canvas, two panels
© Museum of Modern Art, New York
You are merely servants
Luke 17:7-10
Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Which of you, with a servant ploughing or minding sheep, would say to him when he returned from the fields, “Come and have your meal immediately”? Would he not be more likely to say, “Get my supper laid; make yourself tidy and wait on me while I eat and drink. You can eat and drink yourself afterwards”? Must he be grateful to the servant for doing what he was told? So with you: when you have done all you have been told to do, say, “We are merely servants: we have done no more than our duty.”’
Reflection on the painting
What a huge dose of realism today’s Gospel reading brings. Jesus suggests that we are ‘merely servants’. It sounds rather harsh to tell us that, but what does it actually mean? It isn’t just about being subservient to a master or a boss. No, ‘servant’ means that we have limits. We have limits because we cannot act without our master: limits to our abilities, limits to our achievements, limits to our talents, limits to our generosity… because we are human. It is only when we understand that we are limited and seek to go beyond these limits that we can find God. That is what ultimately brings us freedom: the acceptance of our limits and thriving within them.
So this reading is not about Jesus wanting to enslave us: he is not trying to put us in our place. It is a direct call to humility. It is an invitation for us to be aware of our limits. We actually should treasure these limits. Because of the limits we want to search and seek what is beyond those limits… and that is how we find God.
Artists, in their relentless pursuit of creative expression, stand at the intersection of boundless imagination and the inherent limitations of the human condition. The paradox of their existence lies in their ceaseless quest to transcend boundaries while acknowledging the inescapable confines of their existence. Artists are dream-weavers, conjuring worlds, emotions, and ideas beyond the tangible and the ordinary, yet they are tethered to the earth by the very medium of their craft.
In the realm of painting, the canvas restricts the scope of their vision; in sculpture, the dimensions of the stone or clay constrict their ambitions. Writers are bound by the limitations of language, a finite structure for an infinite range of thoughts. Musicians strive to harness the notes within an auditory spectrum. The actor's body becomes both his instrument and his cage.
So today we just look at a white canvas. The limitations of the canvas are visible and tangible. This is how I look at some of the minimalist art created in the 1950s and 1960s, and particularly at the work of Robert Rauschenberg. Our work, created in 1951, features two white canvasses, painted with a roller of white latex house paint.
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I am a fan of Agnes Martin who was known for her minimalist style and abstract expressionism……but I’m not a fan of Robert Rauschenberg’s “White Painting”….I dunno……go figure! LOL
I have 2 comments about this work:
1) If I had to come up with a “painting” showing what we look like after we receive the sacrament of reconciliation this could be it……clean and pure and simple. I would contrast it with what we look like as sinners……..a magic-maker scribbled all over it.
2) This reminds me of a scene from a great movie, “Marooned” (1969) starring Richard Crenna, James Franciscus and Gene Hackman .
Some of the dialogue from the movie:
Clayton Stone : Hey Buzz, you remember that psychologist at Brooks? The one with the blank sheet of paper?
Buzz Lloyd : I don’t remember.
Clayton Stone : Sure, sure you remember. He held up a blank sheet of paper and said, “What do you see?”
Buzz Lloyd : I don’t remember.
Jim Pruett : What’d you see?
Clayton Stone : Who me? I saw a blank sheet of paper.
Jim Pruett : No imagination.
Clayton Stone : No, no! Devotion to truth.
Jim Pruett : Why don’t you take that PhD and shove it.
Buzz Lloyd : [after being asked by Stone what he saw when a psychologist held up a blank sheet of paper during his astronaut acceptance boards] I saw a field covered with snow. And underneath was new oats. Then the snow melted and the field turned to green. But the psychologist said I was all wrong, it was just a blank sheet of paper.
Clayton Stone : He took you anyway?
Buzz Lloyd : Yeah, I guess they made a mistake.
Clayton Stone : No, no, they don’t make mistakes.
Buzz Lloyd : That’s right, I forgot. They don’t make mistakes do they?
[the entire crew begins to laugh at the irony]
I attached the youtube scene, if anyone wants to watch it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMM5T6EVbs0
Dear CA Friends, let me share with you Our Lord’s good joke at the expense of me (not the most humble of His servants!). I was catching up on today’s comments, and nursing the last of my mug of tea on my knees. The mug slipped, fell, and I spent the next fifteen minutes on my knees mopping up the carpet, wiping my shoes, etc.! 😀😀😀 🙏
And, on my knees, I thanked him that the mug didn’t break!
¡Pobre Zeffi! Ten cuidado 🙂
Made me smile this evening Zeffi- thankyou!
We are called to serve, but when at last we say we have done no more than our duty, I am sure Our Lord will still answer “Well done, good and faithful servant”
Así será
Yes. It is when we do less than our duty that we will have to explain ourselves . 😇
Many many thanks to those members who offered prayers for an intractable problem on Sunday: there has been a slight improvement! Thank you so much.
Father Pa trick’s comments about the painting today are particularly brilliant – as TS Eliot said of language – works crack and strain under the burden – some things defy clear communication- like the mysteries in the Catholic faith.
Any artistic endeavour is limited by the medium – and our human understanding.
I am very pleased to know that Fulgentius. Continued prayers for more improvement.
The emperor’s wardrobe is a tad sparse today.
😂