Metaphysical Figures, Sansepolcro 2011

William Balthazar Rose constructed this stage set in Sansepolcro with oil paint. It’s a place where figures and architecture merge into an unsettling harmony. There’s this tension in the painting between the flatness of the picture plane and the illusion of depth, like a kid’s pop-up book. Rose lays down the paint pretty thick, not trying to hide his process. The surface is built up, you can see the direction of each brushstroke, especially in the buildings in the background. Look at the guy with the saxophone. Is he a shadow? A solid form? See the way Rose uses these simple shapes to create a feeling of depth, even as he denies it with the flatness of his colors? I can't help thinking about Giorgio de Chirico and his eerie, dreamlike cityscapes. Like de Chirico, Rose isn’t trying to give us answers; he’s inviting us into a space of endless questioning. And that’s what makes art so damn exciting, right?