Original artwork description:

A fuzzy scene of inarticulate weight and import plays out in this stark, roughly rendered group portrait of three interrelated but psychologically detached figurative entities. The partially obscured lone male participant, gazing down amorously at the central female's body, reaches tentatively toward the vicinity of her breast. In stark attitudinal contrast the woman, giving off no sign of welcome, appears lost in an internal drama. The third figure, a spatially removed reclining female, appears likely only as a product of the frontal woman's reverie. Regardless of the story being played out in her mind, the mystery of the central woman's detachment lends a disturbing edge to any implied serenity in the physical arrangement of the scene. Correctly interpreted, the importance of the smaller female figure, as well as that of the male provocateur, are reduced to little more than adjunct props, counterbalancing, and thereby emphasizing the scale of the central figure's self-absorption.

This painting is part of my ongoing series examining the struggle of being human. The parenthetical title playfully suggests the notion that all things learned in life, from the earliest beginnings onward (including behavior involving interpersonal relationships), are inextricably linked to the courage required in trying something new.

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.

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Materials used:

Oil paint, gesso, charcoal and enamel

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