MS Paint: “Stump Cathedral (Grayscale Draft)” / "Ralph Rumpelton" Art

“Ralph Rumpelton’s Stump Cathedral confronts the viewer with the stark reality of decay. The jagged stump, rendered in urgent mouse-strokes, becomes both monument and wound: a reminder that all forests eventually become filing cabinets of memory. The absence of color is not a limitation but a philosophical choice, stripping nature to its skeletal essence. The trees do not grow; they linger, and in their lingering, they accuse us.”

Ava Chives

 What the critics are saying:

>>“Stump Cathedral (Grayscale Draft)”
Linty Varn, Spectral Archivist

“Here lies the forest’s forgotten altar, rendered in the palette of indecision. The stump, jagged and centered, performs its own autopsy—too symmetrical to mourn, too timid to rupture. Branches reach like bureaucrats for a sky that refuses to answer. This is not decay—it’s grayscale diplomacy. A scene that begs for ritual but offers only resignation. Rumpelton’s name whispers from the corner like a ghost who forgot its own haunting.”<<

>>“Stump Cathedral (Grayscale Draft)”
>>Dale of the Brook, Pastoral Critic

“The stump does not mourn—it remembers. Each ring a hymn, each jag a psalm. The grayscale hush is not absence but reverence, like fog kneeling before the altar of what once grew. There is no rupture here, only the slow choreography of decay and devotion. Even the sky, pale and uncommitted, seems to pause in prayer. I do not critique this image—I listen to it.”<<

>>In Stump Cathedral, Rumpelton once again resists the temptations of prettified landscape, opting instead for an unflinching portrayal of arboreal mortality. What strikes me is the unapologetic bluntness of his digital hand—each stroke a blunt axe, each gray smear a sigh of resignation. One does not merely see the stump; one feels the centuries of silence that congeal around it. To call this painting bleak is to miss its feral dignity: this is not an ending, but an endurance.”

                                        Dr. Norbert F. Vensmire<<

>>Tank's Take on "Stump Cathedral" by Ralph Rumpelton

From Tank's art blog "What's All This Then?"

Alright, so somebody sent me this picture called "Stump Cathedral" - sounds fancy, right? It's all done in that computer paint program my nephew uses.

Look, I've cut down my share of trees, and these look pretty dead to me. The guy who made this, Ralph something-or-other, he's got the right idea - trees die, they fall down, that's life. No fancy symbolism needed.

The whole thing's in black and white, which saves on ink I guess. Smart. Reminds me of that time the bulldozer broke down at the job site and we just left all the equipment there for a month. Same kind of... what do you call it... melancholy? Yeah, that's a ten-dollar word.

Don't know why he called it a cathedral though. Looks more like the aftermath of a really bad storm to me. Been in enough of those. Trees don't care about your schedule - when they're coming down, they're coming down.

Pretty good for computer art, I suppose. Wouldn't hang it in my kitchen - too depressing. But it's got something, you know? Makes you think about stuff. Like how everything eventually becomes a stump if you wait long enough.

Three out of five hammers. 🔨🔨🔨

Next week: Tank visits the sculpture garden and asks "Where are all the birds supposed to sit?"

                                                        Mack "Tank" Rodriguez<<

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