Bathers

Comment

Comment by Resident Curator on September 19, 2017 at 1:20pm

Curator’s Comments: 

 

Bathers came up randomly in an image search for me today, and I was interested to view it again in the context of your more densely packed urban street scenes.  While one may argue the distribution of small figures moving through the picture plane mimics the placement of forms in the condensed paintings, the palette and value pattern also seem an aesthetic departure.   The pervasive blue hue has an interesting flattening effect- I appreciate the riskier space when considered again in contrast to the more complex architectural settings.  The bold color unifies the space is a surprisingly opaque manner, just as the expanse of water is effortlessly communicated. I also like the proportion of the subjects to their environment; without a hierarchy of scale the viewer gets the voyeuristic sense of observing the group from afar, rather than directly participating in their interactions. The other aquatic scenes such as Tides Out or Sea Fishing still stand part for me since they bring the viewer in at human eye level.  In these paintings the emphasis is clearly on individual, classically painted individuals.  I realize Bathers is not your most recent work, and I wonder if you’ve continued to work with this space and perspective in the time that has elapsed?