Un-stretched Longitude
 
Un-stretched Longitude by Alexandra Rozenman is a 72 x 72 x 2.5 inches canvas. Painted in the late 90’s this piece is one of the largest she showed in Clark Gallery at that time. In this vivid square painting a big, mysterious and unreal creature with wings and feathers faces us. She is sitting on the dark blue roof wrapped up by darkness. There’s a half-open window. You can feel the breeze because a few maple leaves are flying around the painting, slowing the pace of time. Above the dark part of the window and also to the left a colorful old European-looking city with tiled roofs shows itself, with narrow streets and old-fashioned streetlights. There the sun is shining.
The bird is waiting for something to happen, staring at us. She knows something that we don’t. On the right side of the canvas you can see  red wallpaper, some more maple leafs and a bowl filled with a unrecognizable red substance and surrounded by tiny insects. 
Did somebody forget a strawberry jam on a windowsill last night? 
 
 
This painting reminds us that there is a lot of beauty in everyday life that goes unnoticed because we pass by, ignoring it. It quilts magic out of ordinary and invites each one of us to ad a few stitches.