2007
60x45 Inches
I have a belief that when presenting a human form the facial expression is what the audience seizes upon last and relies upon most when extracting meaning. I suppose we are conditioned to do this by unrelenting stream of manipulation from modern media. Morning til night, the visual appeals of the computer, TV, cinema, magazines and billboard;buy, try, sympathize ,envy or detest. The facial expression brought me some satisfaction as it graced the muse with sweetness and vulnerability. This an intended contrast to the flat, minimally configured painterly limbs.One verifies the message through body language but ultimately consults the smile, pout, grimace of the mask for certainty we got the message right. The venerable history of figurative painting and photography required that the subject sat motionless for hours, days ,weeks to render likeness, consequently often devoid of spontaneous emotion to accommodate accuracy(or beheading by an insulted king). In post modern works, artists seek to gain distinction from pop media forms by avoiding and if not obliterating facial expression unless ironic. In “Girl with Curious Flower”, innocence supplants irony. I do not see this as precluding the traditions of paint handling from which I have learned classic to expressionism; Canaletto to DeKooning.The flower itself rendered realistically for emphasis in contrast to the body. Symbolically the flower lends the potential for naughtiness to her angelic smile and beguiling eyes.