Original Work by James Edward Scherbarth: Stone

Almost entirely black, and in no way empty.

Stone is an original work by James Edward Scherbarth (1949-2021), oil and cold wax medium on cradle board, signed and dated on the reverse. Dark, near-monochrome paintings like this are made to reward time, with a surface that reveals itself slowly to whoever lives with it. A long pale oval hovers in the upper third, built from scratched grey and white strokes with a few small touches of red. Below, the black is crazed with fine white lines, like cracks in a dry bed. Twenty-four inches wide and thirty high.

A stone, or the idea of one. It holds its weight either way.