bondage 1

Comment

Comment by Resident Curator on May 3, 2013 at 9:56am

Curator’s Comments:

 

Bondage (1) attracted my attention because of the restraint in palette, and simultaneous tension and relaxation in the gesture.  It seems to me more deliberate choices were made in this almost achromatic piece than in the other meticulously representational works in this portfolio, otherwise in vibrant local color. While I admire your honed skill in these other paintings, Bondage decidedly holds my attention the longest.  The impressive scale, beyond the actual size of the figurative image, commands attention.  It has a psychological primacy and visual urgency, and yet the thinly twisted red string doesn’t appear to actually force containment of the hands.  The beautifully crafted texture of the red cord versus the smooth gray surface of the skin is also tactilely engaging.  My eye follows the contour of the red line, moving across the topography of the stoic hands. But I find it most curious that the physical strain of the restriction of the clasped hands seems only evident in the forward facing wrist. It is in this paradox that the piece moves beyond beauty or representation, and perhaps expresses something rather poignant about the human condition.