Halloween, Toms River, NJ

Comment

Comment by Resident Curator on October 31, 2020 at 10:07am

Curator’s Comments:

 

Happy Halloween!  Echoing a comment made by Jenny Fillius several years ago when the piece was first posted, this large-scale figural narrative is both playful and dark.  The dynamic positioning of the central child activates the space, and captures the physical nature of their interactions. The boys drawn guns point to the girl, smiling for the camera/viewer. Her unawareness, or dismal of their assault is wryly amusing. I don’t recognize a costume for the figure on the far right, but his body contorts in a manner suggestive of caricature. The loosely handled architecture in the background of the painting creates a familiar genre scene, and a stage for the children’s’ antics.  I appreciate this stylistic approach taken in many of your works; brushstrokes alternately conform to realistic rendering, along with gestural and haptic expression. I find this balance, and tension in your painting especially enjoyable in the piece entitled Woman in Central Park, NYC. The broken color and reflective orange and pale violet patches within the park bench inject energy and light into ordinary objects (reflecting a Christo installation?)  While the seated figure is arguably the central focal element of the painting, the subject of this work could also be color blocking within atmospheric space. I do hope you’ve continued to work with these elements, and hope you consider adding your new works to the site.

Comment by Jenny Fillius on May 12, 2011 at 2:24pm

I like this a lot, it's scary and humorous to me at the same time.