Bridge 9340

In a burst of creativity I completed these four paintings in one evening this week, the photos from my archives. In fact some of you might recognise the bridge over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis up in the headwaters that collapsed under the weight of traffic in August 2007.

The bridge was rebuilt within a year, so it, like the paintings, was fixed in a rush.

Where there’s a will there’s a way. I’m using so many old Japanese sayings that it is suitable to use an ancient (like me) English saying as well. 

Over the next few days I’ll be alone as houseguests are out of town so will be doing more painting. ‘Bridge 9340’ says “please do not panic” and I’ve got sentences lined up for the next two series, I’ll see if I feel like posting them when they’re finished, enough to say that they’ll be colourful like ‘Bridge 9340’.

When I think of Bridge 9340 I also think of those forgotten spaces in cities that we use to move from one place to another. Near the entrance to the M5 here in Sydney there’s an intersection that is similarly unlovely, with constant traffic despite the existence on the road of houses. The traffic is made worse by trucks that use the surface roads even though there’s a tunnel under the suburbs they could use if they could see a way to paying the fare. Some times I imagine what it must be to live on a road that is so heavily used, but most of the time I ignore it. When I’m in the intersection I am too busy trying to negotiate the traffic to spare a thought for the residents who have to put up with the incessant noise.