School Lunch 100

Comment

Comment by Resident Curator on October 5, 2021 at 8:54am

 

Curator’s Comments:  

School Lunch 100 attracted my attention today in a random search of works on the site.  It was an opportunity to revisit this potent and intriguing series posted many years ago.  The universality of the figures’ expressions resonates with familiar group dynamics, but the characters also strike me as older than what one might expect to encounter at a “school lunch.”  Perhaps the title is meant to suggest schoolyard exchanges persist throughout life, or the figures on the left of the piece could be intervening into the experience of the younger seated female in the blue jacket.  Beyond the figures, the scarcity of the lunchroom space provides a blank stage for their interactions. While there is a contemporary feel to the clothing worn by the group, I find myself contemplating the female on the far left.  Her robe-like garment and gesture suggest an almost Biblical narrative.  Considering the artistic appropriations used in other paintings in your practice, I have the vague and nagging sensation I’m missing a historical context for School Lunch.  I do hope you consider positing new work to the site.  It is a pleasure to contemplate your narrative paintings.