The Mechanist

Comment

Comment by Resident Curator on January 10, 2018 at 9:55am

Curator’s Comments: 

I came upon your mysterious painting The Mechanist this morning, and am drawn into the ominous narrative.  While the gas-masked figures could possibly be viewed as playful in a comical exaggeration of life, I view them in their jumble of gears and tanks gauges under a bleak sky as more menacing than quirky.  The green figure on the extreme left is reduced to a large goggled eye; alert and confrontational in its alien presence. This intersection of cartoonish dark humor and raw painterly approach is reminiscent for me of Phillip Guston.  While the color palette is much richer in the bottom section of the piece, the warm brown hues in the distance are also favored by Guston. The pthalo green and red function as seductive complementary hues, adding drama to the otherwise static activity. Expressive and engaging, the disturbing connotations do not detract from the viewing experience.  The dystopian subtext only serves to lure the viewer into an existential crisis.