33 and a 1/3 (2001),
New Orleans Museum of Art
“33 and a 1/3” is the number of times in a minute a
vinyl long-playing record revolves on the turntable. Taking this reference literally, you might suppose that Sirlin is evoking New
Orleans’s long history as a center of popular music: jazz, rhythm and blues, zydeco. That association is there, but
the title of this work refers to many kinds of movement beyond those that produce music. The swirling
lines of the composition imply the curving and circular movements of the painter’s gesturing hand.
That the work is installed overlooking a park brings more movement into it: the movement of trees and
flowers rustled by the wind; the movement of small animals; the movement of sunlight itself as it pours through
the richly-colored transparency.
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