David Park
Two Bathers
1958
oil on canvas
147,3 x 127 cm
Collection SFMOMA
The
late works of David Park, who in 1960 died at only 59, are some of the
strongest figurative and narrative paintings of 20th century
American art. Park’s canvases contain an energy, light, and life that are
expressed in both the subjects he painted and how he painted them. His use of
oil paint, often applied in thick layers with frozen brushstrokes, physically
and visually created the space in his paintings. But more interestingly, paint
is not just a vehicle for Park to translate his narrative. Rather, it becomes
as much a part of the story as it is his telling of that story.
As different
as Park’s work is from mine, this idea of entangling the personalized way we
paint with the making and reading of our images, is a shared love. For myself,
the use of acrylic paint allows for a creation of colors, layers, edges, and
textures that can only be made with acrylic paint. We don’t deny the
inherent flatness of painting; instead, we use it to heighten our sense of
depicted space. This flattening and creation, pushes the images and
narrative into a realm of memory – they feel real because they were real. With
each memory we relive, we rewrite it. The original moment looses definition
while the new memory becomes more genuine. The distance from these authentic
moments of truth, becomes our content. What you see, is what we remember.
Matthew Fisher 2013
Matthew
Fisher (US)
Young Man Luther
2013
acrylic on canvas
30,5 x 25,4 cm
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