LOUISE LAWLER (B. 1947)

"Both the painting and the contents of the table speak of the inevitable passage of time: empty wine glasses, a full ashtray, a used and crumpled napkin, an uncanny silence that lingers in the room after what we imagine might have been lively conversation. Here is an interior not presented for others but used, daily; the finished meal suggests a melancholy mixture of conviviality and necessity." (Helen Molesworth, Twice Untitled and Other Pictures (Looking Back), p. 148)