Essence of the Fatal Rose
I wanted to capture the essence of a woman that I kept seeing repeatedly sleeping outside near City hall. I first painted the boxes piled together she used to protect herself from the wind and store her belongings. I then sculpted her form as she walked towards the mall carrying her belongings in bags. I followed her on a number of occasions to the Eaton Centre. Here I became intrigued by the fact that she would emerge from the washroom transformed – ready to drink coffee, eat breakfast, (at Macdonalds) and begin her day of writing and drawing.
I was curious to know what she was writing about but was hesitant to intrude in her space. At that time I was assigned a project in painting that required me to explore a narrative and I decided to paint this woman’s story. I built my canvas from material that was given to me by a man who is living on the street. I returned 2 times to City Hall at 5:00 a.m. to paint the woman while she was sleeping.
The first time I went I found her asleep on a long bench, facing somebody else. All of the other benches were now occupied which wasn’t happening in the previous colder months. I found it difficult to just paint her so I painted everyone in the scene. The 2nd time I returned she woke up while I was painting.
I waited until she put her sleeping bag away and then I approached her to show her what I was painting. I asked her if it would be okay to continue and if she didn’t agree then I would destroy it. She said that it was okay that I could continue.
I handed her a printed card with buildings I painted years ago to explain what kind of painting I was doing. She glanced at it and looked at me and said: Do you have anger some time? Surprised I said: Yes I do. She said when it happens to me I start writing.
At school I worked on creating the design for the painting. I returned to City Hall to paint the next steps on the canvas. I approached her to show her how I was proceeding. I wanted to see what she thought of the drawing I had done of her sitting and writing. She said that it was good but that I needed to change the color to blue to match her dress. Asking for her input opened up the conversation and I learned more things about her. By returning to the same place regularly I was able to develop a rapport with her as well meet other people who are living there. We talked about both of us signing the painting – but a week later she said that it wasn’t necessary because she wasn’t recognizable in the painting even though she was everywhere.
The title came up the day after we both signed the painting on the May 24th 2011 after 8 am: Essence of the Fatal Rose
Dose she will agree with?
Toronto, May 2011, Urs Josef KEHL
