*The Arrow* came to Cronin fully formed before he painted it. A minimal, geometric image arriving in his head, complete, the kind of seeing that happens to him sometimes and asks to be made.
The painting is from a period when this kind of vision worked its way into the practice. Concentric squares spiraling inward toward a single arrow at the center, with a small arrow tail extending out of the bottom edge of the field. The form is its own answer. Direction collapsing into itself.
A reminder of how Cronin sometimes works. Not building toward an image, but receiving one and getting it down before it leaves.
48" x 48" · Oil paint on board · 2005 · Signed verso
