Sea Change

Sea Change  36" x 40"

People often ask me how I title my paintings. Unlike some of artists I know, I love writing and assigning titles. It lets me use my wordsmith skills and, when successful, gives the viewer another angle from which to view the work. Sometimes a title is a word or phrase I particularly like (Flabbergast, Goodness Gracious), sometimes a question (Is This All There Is?, What Were You thinking?), or a bit of a narrative culled from images in the painting (Back to Square One, Me and My Shadow); a stolen song title (Splendid Isolation, Shelter from the Storm). I once did a series and titled them all as bumper stickers: Honk if You Love Painting, My Other Paintings are Landscapes, Call 1-800-FISHART, If you lived here you'd be home by now etc.


Sometimes a title pops into my head seemingly from nowhere - and I try to trust that it's the right title. Recently I used "Sea Change" and then realized I didn't know the origin of the expression. Turns out it's Shakespeare, from The Tempest: "Of his bones are coral made:/Those are pearls that were his eyes:/Nothing of him that doth fade,/But doth suffer a sea change". Literally, it refers to fundamental change that would result from long submersion in the sea. But metaphorically, it means a radical change in the every nature of a thing.


When pundits use the phrase “sea change” today, they usually mean a profound shift in the way things are done (i.e. Obama’s taking office).


My inquiry took a funny turn when I mistyped “sea change” into Google and ended up searching Sea Monkeys. Being a strong believer in the serendipity of the typo, I followed it. I discovered that the Sea Monkey kit was originally called "Instant Life" and was invented by the same man who came up with another bit of brilliant marketing from my childhood, X-ray Specs. "See the bones in your hand! See through your clothes!" Yet another random reference to bones. The upshot of all this is I may have some new titles: Bones to Coral, Instant Life and maybe even
X-Ray Specs.? Sometimes a title appears first, and becomes the genesis of a painting. In any case, it all comes full circle. Painting-Title-Meaning-Title-Painting and back around again.