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My fascination with shiny metallic
surfaces is one that I share with parrots and other birds.
The European magpie is known for stealing silverware, jewelry,
and other reflective objects. In Swedish a person can even
be described as being "thievish as a magpie." Many
parrots can spend hours in front of mirrors or playing with
metal bells. Perhaps human obsession with gold emanates from
the same source as that of our avian friends.
Ball bearings, or parts of
them, was something most boys in Gothenburg, Sweden had when
I grew up. Probably because one of the major employers in
the city was a world leading ball bearing manufacturer. SKF
was founded there in 1907 and grew out of Sven Wingquist's
invention of a double row self-aligning ball bearing. Many
children had parents working in the ball-bearing factory.
Sometimes they brought rejected parts home for their kids
to play with. I somehow got hold of one of those metallic
marbles and remember spending hours studying how the light
reflected in it.
When I started to paint more
seriously, as a young adult, I saw a challenge in trying to
capture such an illusive spherical surface on canvas. I was
not quite satisfied with my first attempt, but enough so to
go on to face new challenges. However, after nearly a decade
I kept coming back to the sphere. For instance, at Yule Tide
the balls of the Christmas tree kept reminding me. Now, I
was more experienced and felt I was ready to take my old challenge
one step further.
What would happen if a giant
ball bearing were to drop from the sky into the depth of a
rain forest? This rhetorical question set up the scenario
from which this painting took form. Knowing the inquisitive
and intelligent macaw, I was quite certain one of their kind
would be in front row at such an event. They simply could
not resist such a intriguingly gleaming ball.
I soon found that the contrast
in the detailed greenery and the softer reflection of the
canopy in the bearing ball – note also the reflection
of the bird – created a very interesting paradox. Graphically
the natural, organic seemed more hard edged and harsh than
the manufactured, artificial. To the macaw, however, it was
all very natural: just another toy.
-N. Jonas Englund
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