Christmas Passed

Comment

Comment by Resident Curator on December 24, 2013 at 9:41am

Curator’s Comment:  

 

Christmas Passed seems particularly fitting for the season, and offers a perplexing relationship between nostalgic longing and contemporary realism. The layered juxtaposition of a black and white scene versus a full color figure nicely separates the space and time, and creates a jarring formal division. All of the figures in the composition actually employ a crisp graphic quality, representationally photographic in nature, as the exterior contours provide sharp visual contrast. This is not natural sight, with progressively softened edges of forms.  But I remain most intrigued by the emotive gesture of the older woman in the front of the space.  Holding her arm up as if to stop the progression of the static sleigh, she alternately appears to reach out and touch the image, as if to confirm its illusion.  Draped objects underneath the sleigh attest to the construction of a staged set, for they ride not on drifted snow, but on artificially fabricated peaks.  The inclusion of the woman’s purse in her hand by her side is also a curious addition.  It further establishes the ‘snapshot’ aspect of the scene, as she becomes a passive viewer rather than participant in the action.  The technical handling of the watercolor medium in this work is quite accomplished and impressive.  But it’s the contemplation of holiday memory and questions about realism that hold my attention.