Red Paper Cup

Don Williams

Among the subjects Don Williams often focuses on in his work are forgotten man-made objects, the varied, unassuming detritus of the human condition. This is both juxtaposed and complemented by his vast and dramatic landscapes of the Midwest: while radically different in scope, the concepts behind his chosen subjects feature a common thread in their sense of loneliness - or perhaps of the beauty found in isolation.

Here, a common paper cup doled out by fast-food joints, replete with its familiar waxy sheen, rests on a fence post. The cup and the fence post - biproducts of progress - are brightly illuminated by sunlight made more vivid by a background shrouded in darkness. Below, the unfurling of nature’s most hardy soldier - the leaves of the blackberry - reminds the viewer that all is not lost.