John Berger: Once in a Painting

-In what ways does painting relate to life?

According to John Berger, it is not true that paintings 'preserve a moment' in life. Instead, a painting can imply 'a passage of time' and that the stillness of the captured image 'speaks of timelessness'.

-In what ways is it different to life?

The painted form is 'unchanging', whereas the model is 'dynamic' and 'living'.

-How do you approach the dilemma of making something permanent and still from something that is always in a state of transformation? (even if the object is immobile such as a still life, your perceptions of it constantly change and you are forced to deal with this in some way in the painting...what do you do?)

You approach it with the idea in mind that you are painting for the sake of the 'forseen ideal moment of its being looked at'.

-What do you feel about Berger's statement '(Pictorial art) speaks about the sensuous, the particular and the ephemeral.'

The finished image is timeless, but it depicts the short-lived sensation of life.

-In your experience, when is a painting finished?

When I have done all that I can to capture the chosen 'moment'.