June 22

Sarah Marshall

Lagniappe


A fish, a fossil, a bubble or pearl. Lagniappe: a little something extra, a little something for free. Lithography is a process of oil and water.


I saw a story of a marine catastrophe. I saw oily fingerprints. I saw an oyster’s pearl in the mouth of a mutated fish. Or I might have seen a moment of evolution, a fish learning to fly, a pearl of wisdom. A little something extra. Or––

This was a wonderfully complex image, full of marks both readable and abstract. They were varied but in accord. I appreciated the quiet of this piece, its resistance to definition. I have thought many times recently that the unique gift of visual arts is the potential to create silence or to encourage stillness in the viewer. I don’t feel like talking much about it, which is maybe another gift of this piece. (If you only see it only online you will miss a lot.)

EF