Untitled 2000 Painting

A spare, seemingly disparate collection of organic forms, spaced out from the center as if unaware of each other's presence or import, and at the same time working and moving in tandem, makes up the composition of this small, spontaneous work in oil. The dominant form, in this case what appears to be the makings of a face in profile engulfed in a dramatic visage, looks in cryptically toward center from the lower left. Upon second viewing this head appears attached to an upper torso reclining across the picture plane, left to right, as if floating in some painterly imaginary space. The remaining solid form takes on the impression of another head, this time viewed from above, looking down and entering our field of vision from the upper right corner of the rectangle. The straight horizontal and slightly slanted bands of color comprising the space between these two bodily forms seem to connect them as if pulling them toward each other, most likely to culminate in an imagined, long sought embrace. The final recognizable form, that of a quickly dashed-on upturned hand visible in the upper left, gesturing imploringly as if at the end of an outstretched, straining arm, neatly corroborates this thesis of a corporeal merging together. Influences, among others, include Max Beckmann, Edvard Munch, Bob Thompson, George McNeil, Richard Diebenkorn, David Park, Francesco Clemente, R.B. Kitaj and Willem de Kooning.