no matter what

no matter what

Artist: Agnes Preston-Brame

Title: no matter what, 2021

Location: Center for Visual Artists – Greensboro, NC

First Impression

So, as part of my travels to the NC Folk Festival 2026, as I was checking in at the Greensboro Cultural Center, I ran across a small art studio and museum. And me being me, I thought to myself, what a great find. So, I had to take about 20 minutes to explore some of the local talent. And there definitely was some there.

As you may know, I am starting to gather quite an affinity towards the art world. There is just so much to explore and learn as we look through the eyes of an artist. For me, there is so much to learn. Not only because it’s looking at something through the eyes of another and gaining their perspective, but because when I absorb the perspective of someone else, it often helps make me more aware of my own. For example, where perspectives come from, what has caused or shaped someone’s perspective, and then how often and to what extent I place my own interpretation on something.

So I perused around and selected my top works of art. And today, I’d like to first look at no matter what by artist Agnes Preston-Brame. With this piece, I honestly didn’t know what to make of it initially. As you can see, there are no faces on the two figures. That means there are no expressions to try and decipher leaving me with very little to draw on or to tell me anything about who they are supposed to represent. But, as I immediately recognized that it was in fact two people standing, I still was pressed to place meaning on them.

Questions circulated in my head: Are they together, like a couple? Is one person trying to comfort the other? Is one person moving toward the other person or about to turn away from the other? Naturally, I asked myself are they strangers? The facelessness and kind of shadowy image made me think possibly it was a memory. Whatever it was, the longer I looked the more I started to realize that I was trying to add meaning that may have not actually been there.

Then I became more intrigued and started to read the artist’s statement. I only try to read their statements after taking a long look and forming my own opinion before reading the artists’ interpretation and meaning. After I read it, it became more interesting to me and the idea that I was gathering in my own mind toward awareness starting coming full circle. The statement spoke to her intentionality of creating abstract figures hoping to evoke or convey familiar emotions, attitudes, and situations. Further, she added that her work begins without any preconceived ideas in hopes that the images and their stories begin to emerge as she continues her progress. And to me, this is how art begins to imitate life or vice versa. My uncertainty here wasn’t missing here nor was it something that needed solving; it was simply part of the experience…just like life.

While one of the figures, as you may notice, appears darker and just a shade more defined, the other, the lighter of the two, is more connected to the light. So what does that mean? Does it mean anything? I still can’t quite nor confidently explain them. It needs just a little more facial expression or perhaps some sort of indication of movement. Or maybe it’s just my desire to add more to help my understanding or to understand her/their perspectives. All in all, I think that actually says more about me than it does about the painting.

The Reflection

“Sometimes life doesn’t need solving, it needs experiencing”…DP

Wow! Isn’t it amazing how quickly we turn something that we see with our eyes into something we think we already know? I don’t know about you, but uncertainty makes me uncomfortable. When life throws incomplete pictures at us, it’s interesting to see how fast our minds begins to complete it. Yeah, this is probably typical for works of art but consider how many times we do this to other people or other situations in our lives.

How many times do we complete stories that we have no real evidence that provides proof positive? For example, when an interview doesn’t go the way we expected, we assume the hiring manager doesn’t like us personally. If we see someone else moving ahead in life, we may trivialize their accomplishments because we aren’t there yet ourselves, or we soil their progress by insinuating that maybe they did something unethical to get there. Or how about when one opportunity falls through, we’ve already decided what it means to our future.

Don’t get me wrong, experience is a good teacher and sometimes the chips fall in the worst places. Sometimes we’re right and we make pretty good predictions. But is that enough to create something that hasn’t happened yet. Given all this in life, Preston-Brame’s approach is a really good characterization of our lives at times. Many of us struggle with meaning in our everyday lives, but sometimes we just have to let go and allow meaning to emerge without our prediction of what’s to come. She uses the words intuitive and spontaneous while working in the hope of discovery bring in realization to describe her work. That’s a beautiful contradiction. No, actually, that’s a beautiful contrast – working without the limitations of a planned end in order to allow the work to take it where it needs to go. Similarly, I stood there staring at the piece not knowing and waiting for the exact point in which the image would take me where it wanted me to go. Enter awareness!

Mindful awareness creates a tiny space between what we see and how it is meant to conclude. It is an opportunity to notice, observe, and witness (NOW) the moment when what I see becomes what I am soon to know. They aren’t the same. Everything that has happened to us in our histories, from our fears, from our relationships, and from our expectations all join together to become what we interpret right in front of us. Again, it doesn’t mean they are wrong. It’s just a part of who we are. But perspective and awareness jell together well because it helps us shape the way we see and understand things.

This work reminded me that not everything needs to be categorized, explained, or completed immediately. Curiosity allows us to discover something we may miss if we always tend to rely on a certainty….which doesn’t really exist anyway.

One Question to Carry with You

Where and when in your life have you unknowingly turned incomplete information into a complete story?