By Richard Zagrzecki
Anyone who reads the text incorporated into the large charcoal drawing overlooking the foyer of the Honors College in the M.D. Anderson Library may leave a bit perplexed or amused – or both.
“Shine and rise, gentleman and ladies! Smell the coffee and wake up! Forget and forgive circumstance and pomp. Learn and living nothing but the truth and the whole truth, for all and once, over and over … ever and forever,” it reads in a twisting and turning fashion.
The collection of clichéd expressions, strung together and reversed, is the brainchild of Houston artist Randy Twaddle, who was commissioned to complete the work he titled “Shine and Rise” nearly a decade ago.
The large-scale, charcoal on canvas drawing has been on display since Sept. 21, 2007. It is a diptych with both panels measuring 9 feet by 13 feet.
The inscription appears in a banderole, which is a band used in decorative sculpture. Because it twists and folds, not all of the lettering is legible, so viewers have to mentally reconstruct some of the phrasing from what they can see.
“This is one of my favorite pieces in the entire UH Public Art Collection,” said Michael Guidry, curator of the collection. “It’s unique, interesting and always fun to look at, no matter how many times you have seen it.”